Shadows in the Dark
by Scarlette Shizuru
Summary: For the unknown characters, they will be shown later on in the story. SasukeOC, NarutoxSakura Chapter 17 up!
1. The Chase

Shadows in the Dark

Summary: Naruto and Sasuke find a young girl lying on the snow. Also, it happens she is chased by Orochimaru and Itachi. She has something that other ninjas want also what they don't have. How will the gang take it if they realize she is from a highly respected and feared family of ninjas? (SasukeOC, NarutoxSakura)

Name: Katara Chigusa

Age: 14

Class: Genin

Weapon: Kunai and Hayate and Sais

Clan: Chigusa

Bloodline Limit: Hijutsu, Magen Ryujin (Secret Art, Demon Dragon God)

Favorite Move: Sakura Ryu no Jutsu (Cherry Blossom Dragon)

Element: Wind (Kaze)

Color of Eyes: Amethyst

Hair Color: Black (Raven Black)

Chapter 1- The Chase

A girl darted off down the alleyways and the streets. Jounins and Anbus were chasing her and hunting her down. Typically, it wasn't her fault that she killed a jounin since he tried killing her first.

The girl was named Katara Chigusa, the girl who was sealed up with a dragon spirit. As she ran, a jounin spotted her, he cried out: "Hey she's over here!" She turned around and cast: "Henge!" She transformed into a log and vanished and this left the ninjas clueless where she was.

Then, by accident, she dispelled it and revealed herself.

"Oh damn it!"

She ran again and then, she was cornered at all sides. She was cornered by 5 jounins at al sides. They all drew kunais and katanas ready to attack her if necessary. She didn't want to attack them. She was told not to, in fact, she was…

"Afraid…"

Her heart pumped rapidly and she looked around for another place to go. The only way she found was the cliff she was on. Having no other choice, she willingly dropped down, as she saw the ocean racing up to meet her.

The jounins tried to stop her but no avail.

After 5 days, it was winter in Konoha. Team 7, which was composed of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke with their instructor Kakashi were walking down after a hard mission. Naruto complained: "GAAAH! Why are grunt works always given to us?"

Sakura, who was tired of explaining stuff to Naruto said exasperatedly: "Because we're only genins! Once we reach the higher level we can do better missions! How many times must I explain this to you!"

Naruto shrugged and Sasuke just simply said: "Pfft… idiots." He was annoyed by the fact that those 2 act the same and the fact that Naruto can really open his mouth and not care about wasting his breath.

Kakashi said: "Well, don't worry. Once you people start getting along better, maybe you'll move up the ranks faster." Then, as the clock striked 9:00, he saw that he had to go. So, he simply said: "Oops gotta go. Bye."

Kakashi vanished and that left the 3 of them in the group. 10 minutes later, they stopped by Sakura's house and Sakura left. She said sweetly: "Bye Naruto. Bye Sasuke-kun!" (You know how she is… especially with Sasuke)

So, it was down to Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto and Sasuke were going together since their houses were at the same area. Sasuke and Naruto remained silent for a while. No one had spoken a word until Naruto decided to ask Sasuke something.

Naruto asked: "Sasuke, do you like Sakura?" Sasuke looked at him with disgust and said: "Do you have any idea with what you just said?" Naruto was convinced that Sasuke didn't like her and he quietly admitted: "Well, I kinda have feelings for her..."

Sasuke replied monotonously: "Yeah, whatever." Then, realizing what he heard, he was stunned, he exclaimed: "You like Sakura of all people?" Naruto just smiled and laughed a bit.

Sasuke shook his head and told himself: "Never mind." After a few minutes, they found a girl lying on the cold frozen lake in Konoha. Naruto was the first to notice and he said excitedly: "Hey Sasuke! Look!"

Sasuke was shocked by Naruto's shouting and he saw a girl lying there. Naruto nagged Sasuke for Sasuke to go with him. Sasuke, who was tired of Naruto bugging him, went with him anyway.

As they reached the spot, Naruto asked: "Hey are you okay?" Naruto turned her over and saw her, she was bloodied all over. Sasuke was terrified of the sight since she looked like she had just been chewed up by a shark.

Sasuke also wondered what happened. Naruto said: "Well, we better get her somewhere." They thought for awhile and then, Naruto said: "I know! We can bring her to your place!"

"What? Why can't you take her to yours?"

"Because, your house is a lot easier to fix and my house is a mess."

Sasuke finally got also fed up since Naruto was so damn annoying, he decided his place. He actually preferred it if she stayed at his place because he knew Naruto couldn't manage her either if he can't manage himself.

Then, they looked at her and then said at the same time: "YOU'RE CARRYING HER!" They got into a silly argument again. Naruto said that he was queasy about blood and he wasn't used to holding a girl.

Sasuke knew he was only making an excuse since he held Sasame before. (Girl from Fuma clan, remember?) Then, later on, Naruto left Sasuke in order to avoid carrying her. He made an excuse and left before Sasuke could say anything.

Sasuke was left alone and he knew he couldn't leave her there to freeze. So, he picked her up and carried her bridal style. All the way to his house.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As he reached his house, he laid her in front of the fire place he had. He used his fire technique to light up the fire. She was lying on the couch, curled up like a shrimp.

Sasuke found some spare blankets and towels and put it beside her. He got a bowl filled with water and began wiping her wounds. When he pressed the cold towel against her wounds, she immediately curled up even more.

Sasuke figured she was conscious but tried to conceal her pain. He lightly wiped up her wounds and her eyes began to open. She sat up and saw Sasuke. Her vision however was a bit blurry so she couldn't see anything very well.

Sasuke saw a silver necklace hanging from her neck and he picked it up, he saw the word "Katara" on the necklace. He looked at her and said quietly: "So… your name is Katara, isn't it?"

She didn't reply and she just stared at the fire. He looked at her and told himself: "Well… she looks really pretty from the looks of it." Then, as her vision began to clear, she asked: "Where am I?"

Sasuke replied: "You're in my place, right now. You're in Konoha." She freaked out as she remembered the symbol of the people who attacked her before she got her.

Uchiha Itachi. Orochimaru. The Chigusa 10.

She said: "I shouldn't be here. Where is he? Where are they?" Sasuke, who was completely dumbfounded, asked: "Who?" She replied: "Itachi… and all those other people…"

As if it were a conscious action, he hugged her and told her: "It's alright. They're not here. None of them are." Katara knew that she could somehow trust him but she wasn't sure that was why she only looked like she would trust him.

She asked: "Who exactly are you?" Sasuke replied: "I'm Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke." Shocked with his response, she knew that he was related to Itachi. She heard about that clan massacre and she knew only 2 people survived, and he was one of the 2.

Realizing that his answer had shocked her, he added: "Don't worry, I'm not like Itachi. In fact, I want to kill him." She was left on the verge of hacking and coughing since she had not fully recovered.

As she coughed, she spat out blood on the towel and began to hyperventilate. Sasuke said: "Don't force yourself anymore. Just lie down and rest." She had no choice since her head was spinning again.

Sasuke got a soft pillow and laid it under her head. She slept in front of the fire and Sasuke decided to stay with her. And something else was also bugging him…

**Sasuke's P.O.V**

I can't believe it. I found her in the smack dab of Konoha and I've got no idea how she got there. Although, she does seem pretty and she does seem different than Sakura. I just wish I could know more so I could understand who exactly she is.

I looked at her again. Somehow, my heart felt a bit different about her. Usually, I never feel these kinds of things. But, she does seem beautiful and…and…unique.

I sat in front of the roaring fire and sooner or later, I drifted to sleep.

**End of P.O.V**

The next day, Sasuke found out she was gone. He muttered to himself: "Shit! Where is she? First she was here and now she--." Before he could say another word, she was there in his kitchen. She had a glass of water in her hand and she was standing right in front of him.

But that was not what stunned him; the thing that stunned him was all her wounds were gone. It's as if she had this gene that allowed her to recover miraculously. She asked: "What's the matter?"

Sasuke replied: "Umm… nothing. Just looking for something." She nodded and then introduced: "I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Katara…Katara Chigusa…" Sasuke nodded and didn't say anything.

Sasuke got up and said: "Well, firstly, we better get you new clothes and then, we'll meet my team and the others at the ramen house." So, Sasuke had to lend her his shirt first. Her pants were still okay.

As they walked around Konoha, they found this store and bought clothes from there. When she came out, she wore a black tank top, no turtleneck and then, she wore blue shorts and sandals. (You know, like what the ninjas in Naruto wear except hers are black.)

Sasuke said: "Okay, now that's done. We can go to the Ramen House where I think Naruto should be eating more than 6 bowls of ramen." Katara was intrigued and she asked: "Can he really eat that much?"

Sasuke replied: "Believe me. You have no idea." As they reached the Ramen house, his expectations were right. Naruto was already at his 7th. Then, Sakura spotted them and greeted sweetly: "Konichiwa Sasuke-kun. Dare kanojo wa?" (Hi Sasuke, who is she?)

Sasuke replied: "This is Katara. Katara, this is Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said: "Hi. Pleasure to meet you." But, her attitude wasn't really like that. At the back of her head she was saying, this girl better not steal my Sasuke-kun.

Then, Naruto said: "Hey. I'm Naruto. You better who I am because I'm going to be the next Hokage!" She saw him pose weirdly and Sasuke whispered to her: "Don't mind him. His head has a few screws loose."

Naruto heard that and pouted as he said to himself: "Yeah, yeah, brag on Sasuke." Then, Kakashi said: "So, you're Katara right?" Katara nodded and said: "Well, I'm just their instructor. Believe me; you got no idea how rowdy these kids are…"

Katara giggled and team 7 pouted in front of Kakashi. However, this fun time didn't last long. Few minutes later, they heard a kaboom and Katara saw the most recognizable people she knew.

She mumbled: "No… it can't be…"

cloudstrife22793: Okay. I kinda changed the profile since it sounded a bit weird.

Sasuke: I'm glad you made me sound better.

cloudstrife22793: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, just remember, review please!


	2. Hidden Dragon Within

cloudstrife22793: I revised Chapter 2! The last one I need to revise is Chapter 3!

Sasuke: How come you're revising it?

cloudstrife22793: Coz the spelling of the characters is wrong and the format is wrong also.

Sasuke: (nods) Alright.

Naruto: Aww man! Now we have to fight Orochimaru, again!

cloudstrife22793: Actually, the fight will only be finished halfway; you do realize that you can't just beat the crap out of him.

Orochimaru: I heard that.

cloudstrife22793: Okay, I hear Mr. Creepy Snake now, and someone do the disclaimer!

Sakura: I'll do it! The author doesn't own any of us except Katara and Itachi and Orochimaru aren't working together!

cloudstrife22793: Alright, on with the story…

Chapter 2- Hidden Dragon Within

Katara was completely shocked she saw Orochimaru. She said: "This is bad! He's not going to stop until he finds me." Katara got up from her chair and got ready to leave. Sasuke grabbed her hand and said: "No… you should stay here. You're safer with a lot more people."

"What do you mean? They'll all just get hurt!"

Sasuke shook his head and said: "Well, I don't think Orochimaru would be that heartless. I mean, he's got 5 other people to handle the dirty work for him." Katara gulped and whimpered: "There are five others?"

Naruto nodded and said: "Yup. There's Tayuya, Kimimaro, Kidomaru… who else?" Sakura shrugged and said: "I don't know you were the one who fought them." But the memory in Sasuke's mind was too clear for him, he added: "There's Jirobu and Sakon and Ukon."

Katara said: "Wait, isn't Sakon and Ukon the brothers who can fusion with one another?" Sasuke nodded and then, Kakashi said: "You better stay with us for the mean time. Otherwise, if you're alone, they'll just come out and kill you."

Sasuke asked: "Besides how many people are chasing you?" Katara replied mournfully: "A lot." Kakashi sighed and said: "Well, if you stay in a populated ninja village, I don't think they'll even get close."

But he was a wee bit wrong coz Orochimaru had just found her by using a snake. He used the Kanashibari no Jutsu (Temporary Paralysis Technique) to freeze the ninjas in their tracks. Then, he also found team 7 along with Katara.

Orochimaru said smugly: "Well, what do we have here? My former protégé and my next one too." They all knew he was referring to Sasuke and Katara coz Sasuke once fought alongside Orochimaru.

Orochimaru smiled and took another step forward. Katara was being defended by the whole team with Sakura beside her, Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke up front. Orochimaru then, took another step closer and this time, his beady eyes were pretty intimidating.

Katara then put right hand in a singular tiger position and she cast: "Kohenkyou." She vanished and landed right behind Orochimaru and darted off. Orochimaru however, sensed that and went after her while Team 7 trailed along behind.

Orochimaru wasn't the only one there; Kimimaro and Tayuya were there too along with Kidomaru and Jirobu. Katara darted as fast as she could until she saw a barred forest. She went towards it and sailed over the barbed wire with ease.

Unfortunately, Kimimaro saw her sail into the forest and he went over the barbed wire in order to pursue her. Meanwhile, Orochimaru was tackling Team 7, although he had his group, he told them to hold back since he felt a lot stronger than them.

Naruto put his fingers and cast: "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" 5 copies of Naruto appeared and then, Naruto held back one clone and the others ran towards Orochimaru. Naruto's clone helped him charge up the Odama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere).

Orochimaru used the technique Kusanagi Tsurugi: Ku no Tachi (Kusanagi Sword: Long Sword of the Heavens) and drew a sword from his mouth. He slashed all the clones and they all vanished. Next, he heard someone cast: "Katon: Goukkakyuu no Jutsu." (Fire Element: Grand fireball technique)

A huge flame went straight at him but, he easily avoided Sasuke's attack. Kakashi told Sakura: "Sakura, smoke the place!" Sakura nodded and she threw several smoke bombs around Orochimaru and the group.

Orochimaru said: "Hmph… very sneaky. Tayuya, summon your warriors!" Tayuya played the melody, Mateki: Genbuso Kyoku (Demon Flute: Illusionary Warriors Manipulating Melody). She summoned three warriors to go and search for Team 7.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was bad enough that Katara was in the forest of death, not only that, she had a very powerful clan member tailing right behind her. As she got into the heart of the forest, she saw two Sasukes.

The first Sasuke said: "C'mon, we have to leave! One of them could be the enemy!" The second Sasuke said: "Don't listen to him! He's trying to trick you!" Katara got confused, she didn't believe any of them, but her dragon personality broke lose and a large amount of chakra was streaming from her body.

Her body was glowing blue and then, her eyes changed from amethyst to a beady green. She let lose all of that excess chakra and it revealed who the real Sasuke was. But things didn't stop there, the warriors of Tayuya, Team 7 and Orochimaru's group were there.

Katara put her hands together and cast: "Kokuryu Renge!" (Black Dragon Lotus) She summoned a black dragon that surrounded Orochimaru and his whole group and attacked them in 5 directions.

Sakura mumbled: "At least we won't worry about him anymore." But then, Orochimaru summoned Rashomon in order to supress Katara from attacking any further. As the snake lunged to kill her, Naruto summoned Gambuta, a huge frog and that frog stopped Rashomon from hurting anybody.

Sakura asked: "Kakashi-sensei, what should we do?" Kakashi answered: "We first deal with Orochimaru and then, we deal with Katara." However, Katara alreay took care of that part, she used so much chakra and hit Orochimaru real hard.

Orochimaru said: "We'll deal with her next time. Right now, we're just wasting our time." Orochimaru vanished along with the Sound 5 and Rashomon and this left Team 7 with the highly dangerous Katara.

Unknown to Team 7, Orochimaru made them think he left is because he wanted Katara to kill them by using her extended powers. They were simply right above them. Tayuya asked: "Are you sure this will work?"

"Of course. I don't think anybody can stop that girl."

Kakashi saw that now, he had to deal with this, but luckily Tsunade, Shizune and Anko spotted the bright light, which happened to be Katara's chakra. They commanded some Anbus and went towards the Forest of Death.

As Tsunade got there, she looked at Katara, she mumbled: "This ain't good." Katara slowly floated down with her beady green eyes gleaming and staring at them. Then, unexpectedly, she attacked them. Naruto shouted: "Gambuta, can't you do anything?"

Gambuta shouted back: "Wait, you brat! I'm trying to think of something. The only thing I can think of is restraint!" Kakashi nodded and told the others: "He's right. No high powered attacks, just hit below the belt."

Sasuke and Sakura were shocked. Obviously, Katara was a lot more powerful than all three of them but hey had no other choice but to fight her in order to keep the village safe. Naruto charged straight at Katara and cast: "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Technique)

Kakashi slapped himself and shouted at Naruto: "You stupid idiot! Don't do that!" But it was too late, Katara did a single hand seal process and cast: "Hien Ryu no Tatsumaki." (Scarlet Flame Dragon Tornado)

A red dragon appeared and whirled at a high velocity and blew down all of Naruto's clones. Unknown to Katara, Naruto already prepared a secondary attack and he launched his Odama Rasengan.

As he lunged at her, she cast: "Kage Ryu no Tate!" (Shadow Dragon Shield) A black shield appeared and penetrated Naruto's attack. But, Naruto didn't stop there; he released the Kyuubi spirit in order to release more chakra.

Sasuke hid kunais in his next attack as he cast: "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique) He shot fireballs in a 180 degree arc and smashed Katara's shield. Although, it did make a slight crack.

Next was Sakura's Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu (Sakura Blizzard Technique). Sakura hurled several kunai at her opponent, each with a small sack of explosive powder attached. Katara, deflected the kunais and unknown to her, it will cause the sacks to break and scatter the powder on herself and the area around her. Sakura threw another kunai with an explosive tag and ignites all the explosive powder, and she left Katara in an imense explosion.

Katara, without knowing let her guard down and her shield was weak enough for Naruto and Kakashi to penetrate. Kakashi cast: "Raikiri!" (Lightning Edge) He ran towards her and cracked a partial part of the shield but he whole thing didn't break.

Next, Tsunade decided to try if her Tsutenkyaku (Painful Sky Leg) can break the shield. She gave it a shot and boy, did it shatter in Katara's face. This allowed Shizune and Anko to hold her down. The Anbus helped the other two jounins hold her down by using the Kanashibari no Jutsu.

Then, Tsunade hit the back of her neck, which was her most sensetive point. But the feeling of pain was all she needed to break free from the technique. Once she felt the pain, she immediately sprinted away and left the ninjas on the floor, surprised.

Kakashi quickly whispered to Sasuke: "It's best you go after her. It's a lot safer. If there too many of us, she'll be alarmed and agitated too much." Sasuke obediently followed after her not knowing that Naruto followed right behind him.

Katara was running for her life, she never had felt this afraid before. Her heart was beating crazily and she thought she was going to get captured. As she found a safe place, she hid there and slowed down her heart pace.

As Naruto and Sasuke got to that same area, she thought that they were just going to capture her. So, her dragon personality got the best of her and she lunged at them. Naruto was surprised and he accidentally pushed Sasuke.

As if it were a coincidence, Sasuke's lips locked on Katara's. Naruto whined: "Oh no! Now Sasuke's gonna have my head for this!" But that was they needed to do, coz Katara's chakra level died down and she also lost consciousness.

As Sasuke caught her, he turned around and looked at Naruto and he was reeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pissed. Naruto moaned: "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" Sasuke looked at him directly in the eye and said icily: "If you dare to tell anybody, I assure you, you will be found dead!"

Naruto gulped and answered: "Yeah, I promise." But behind Sasuke's back, he said: "Hehehe, wait till I tell Sakura-chan." A little bit later, Katara began to open her eyes, she asked: "Where am I?"

Sasuke replied: "We'll explain it to you later. Right now, we need to get you some place safe. Just close your eyes." Katara, who was feeling tired, closed her eyes and lay asleep in Sasuke's arms.

Then, as if someone were watching, rain descended on them. Sasuke muttered: "Shit… did it have to rain?" Naruto snickered and said: "Maybe. But we better go." As soon as he left, Orochimaru,w ho was watching every single little move said: "Well, looks like I've got my little plan."

But unknown to him, Itachi and Hoshigaki were watching him. Hoshigaki said: "Alright, let me get this straight. Orochimaru dies first, then, you fight Sasuke and then, you snatch Katara?" Itachi nodded and watched Sasuke.

Itachi muttered: "Humph… Katara Chigusa… My brother has no idea where she's from. He doesn't know that the Chigusa Clan is one of the most powerful clans in the whole world**." **Hoshigaki said: "I bet she'll be protected by your brother like anything."

Itachi answered: "That's why, I'm going to watch every single move they make. While you go back and get the other Akatsukis for reinforcements." Without a word, Hoshigaki vanished and left Itachi alone to watch his younger brother.

Meanwhile, Katara is in Sakura's house. Her heart was not troubled. Not yet… that is…

cloudstrife22793: I revised the Chapter 2! I only need to revise Chapter 3!

Sasuke: At least I act better here.

cloudstrife22793: Well, I playing with your personality am not off limits yet.

Sasuke: Oh boy. I'm doomed.

cloudstrife22793: Never mind him! By the way, reviews!


	3. Attack of the Akatsukis

cloudstrife22793: Hello there, Naruto fans! Anyway, I'm sorry my 2nd chapter sucked. I'm really new to Naruto so, I kinda need your help. " Send me flames or whatever just let it help me! "

(Getting back to work)

cloudstrife22793: Ok, just to make this clear, Itachi is not working with Orochimaru. " I'm just clarifying. Also, the Anbus I'm talking about are Itachi's group mates, plus him. " Anyway I also changed the title.

Chapter 3- Attack of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru

Sasuke sighed as he watched over Katara as she slept peacefully in Sakura's room. It was 5:00 in the afternoon and she hasn't moved ever since.

Sakura came in and asked, " Has she woken up yet? " Sasuke shook his head and said, " Ever since that freaky thing came out and I you-know-what her. She hasn't moved. "

Sakura whispered an "oh" which Sasuke kind of heard. " Sasuke said nothing after that, he stared blankly at Katara, who was barely moving.

Sasuke's P. O. V

As I stared at her blankly, I had several emotions bubbling up inside me. " The 1st question I asked myself was, " "Do I like her? "" The next one was, "Why did I kiss her? ""

Then, I muttered, " "Damn Naruto. " If he hadn't pushed me, I wouldn't have made contact with her. " " Then, my heart began telling me, " "You know, that kiss was great. ""

Then, I shook my head and told myself fiercely, " "No! " I don't like her! " She's just a friend of mine. " Then, I heard that voice of mine in my head again saying, " "YOU LIKE HER SASUKE UCHIHA! "" "YOU CAN'T ADMIT CAN YA? ""

Then, I said loudly, " "No! Darn it leave me alone! "" Then, suddenly, Katara began to wake up. "

Normal P. O. V

Katara woke up with half-opened eyes. " She moaned, " What was that noise? " Then, she saw Sasuke and asked, " "Where am I? "" Sasuke said coolly, " "You're in Sakura's house that's where you are. ""

Katara looked around and asked, " What happened? " Is anybody hurt? " Did something else happen? " Sasuke rolled his eyes and said in a cold voice, " No one got hurt except you and Orochimaru. "

Katara brightened and said, " What? " Sasuke replied in an annoyed voice, " I broke his shins or you don't remember don't you? " Katara said, " I only remember a few memories. " I forgot most of them. "

Sasuke felt like a thunderbolt had hit him and said icily, " Oh good golly. You forgot everything else including your own name? " Katara said nothing after. She remained silent and she stared sadly at the bed sheet. "

When Sasuke saw this, he began hitting himself on the head for what he said. He said to himself, "Good going Uchiha, you just split her heart into 2 and you destroyed your chances in getting to reveal your feelings to her. "

Sasuke couldn't say anything, he was speechless. " He completely hit her just like that without considering her feelings, (cloudstrife22793: Bad Sasuke! " You bad bastard! Sasuke: Geez! " Make me apologize to her, please! I hate it when you make me this way! cloudstrife22793: Ack, fine. " I'll follow your request. ")

Sasuke apologized, " I'm sorry. I just couldn't control what I was saying and…" Then, Sasuke noticed that Katara was beginning to cry, small tears started streaming down her face.

Sasuke felt so bad that he hurt her feelings that, unconsciously, he actually hugged her, and he was brushing her hair! (cloudstrife22793: Can you believe that? A cold hearted boy like him doesn't do that in other fics! )

Katara whispered, " No, its okay, it's just… Sasuke asked, " It's just…? " Katara said, " This village will be a main target for Orochimaru and Itachi. They'll both kill everyone, whoever attacks this village first. "

Sasuke said assumingly, " I wouldn't think that if I were you. " Katara looked up and asked, " Why? " Sasuke replied, " Because the more you think that, the more you are closer into becoming a pessimist. "

Katara asked, " A pessimist? " Sasuke said, " Yeah, a person who thinks of morbid or sad things. " Then, a voice said, " I don't think you should be telling her that, Sasuke. "

Katara looked over Sasuke and greeted happily, " Hello, Sakura-chan. " Sakura greeted back, " Hello. " Daijobu desu ka, Katara-chan? " (Are you alright now, Katara? )

Katara answered back, " Hai. " (Yeah. ") Then, Sakura questioned Sasuke, " What were you telling her? " And look at her! " Her face is all red! " Did you make her cry, Sasuke-kun? "

Sasuke replied defiantly, " No, I swear! " She just… she just… Kakashi concluded, " Cried for no reason? " Sasuke looked stunned and looked pathetically at there faces and said, " Yeah…

Naruto hit his forehead and asked, " Have you gone insane? " Then, Katara suddenly gasped and said, " They're coming… Sakura asked, " Who? "Orochimaru? Who? "

Katara whimpered, " The Akatsuki… Itachi… Sasuke mumbled, " Shit… Here we go…

As soon as they got outside, Itachi and several other Akatsuki Anbus were walking calmly. " Looking for Katara, in every single place in Konoha. "

Itachi smiled and said to himself, " She's somewhere around here and I just know the place. " Itachi looked toward at the direction of Sakura's house. "

Then, Itachi said quietly, " I better wait for her to get out of the boundaries of Konoha. That girl will be mine and I can destroy Orochimaru by just using her…"

Later on, at 7: 00 in the evening (duh) Naruto and the gang had dinner in Sakura-chan's house. " Kakashi said, " You better not get out of this house first, Katara. "

Katara looked up and said, " He's there, isn't he? " Kakashi nodded and said, " Just stay within our sight. " At least we can find you, and stay within the boundaries of Konoha, that's what Itachi wants you to do. "

Naruto asked, " Do what? " Sasuke said, " Leave Konoha, you dummy. " He wants her to do that so no one will know that he got her. " Naruto nodded and said, " Oh, I see. " I always end up not understanding the plan and that gets me to do stupid things. "

Katara remained quiet the whole time that's why Sakura urged her to talk. " Katara just said answers like "yes", "no", "maybe", "yeah" and other short responses. "

Then after dinner, Katara informed, " I'll just go out for a walk, you guys. " Sakura said, " Okay. " Kakashi said, " Remember. " Katara nodded and bid goodbye. "

As she walked around in the boundaries of Konoha, she silently admired the place with its brightly lit lights and the way the people spend time. "

Katara mumbled to herself, " I never experienced stuff like this when I was still with my clan. " She walked around and saw the Konoha Academy. " She stood in front of it and stared at it. "

She said, " This must be where Sasuke-kun and the others train. " Then, out no where an Akatsuki anbu appeared right in front of her. " Katara freaked out and demanded, " WHO ARE YOU? "

Then, the Akatsuki just vanished and left Katara wondering who it was. This motivated her to chase him and she, without knowing left the boundaries of Konoha and was now chasing him in the forest where the rest of the Akatsuki were waiting.

When she got there, that's when she realized that it was a trap. The Akatsuki jumped out from all sides and surrounded her. " Katara was unfazed though from this cheap tactic, she said to herself simply, " I guess I might have to kick their asses. "

One of the Akatsukis, a big tall guy tried punching her, but she quickly evaded and then, she was knocked back by 3 others and then, Itachi grabbed her neck and held her against the tree trunk. "

Katara gasped, " Let go of me! " Itachi smirked and said, " And why should I? " He added, " You have the power I need to beat Orochimaru and I need your dragon spirit to get rid of the fear of Orochimaru inside of me. "

Katara gasped, " Well, guess what? I wouldn't give it, over my dead body. " Itachi said, " Figures… Looks like I have to handle you the hard way. "

He threw her towards the middle of the circle and told the others, " Kill her. " He stood there ready to watch her die, then, he added, " Leave the last hit for me. " I have something for her. "

Katara knew this was bad and she desperately tried to find an opening. " One of the Akatsukis charged at her in attempt to knock her down, but she leaped up high into the air. "

She couldn't leap that high yet because she had just recovered awhile ago. " She hadn't had that much time to recover her strength either, so she had to keep on speed attacking. "

She drew one of her kunais and tried to slash one of them. " But the one she tried to slash was just feinting and the guy behind her slashed her back. "

Then, the guy who feinted kicked her in the stomach and sent her flying to the others. " She steadied herself in order not to fall back. " She quickly retaliated by using one of her favorite moves. "

She cast, " RAIJIN-RYU no Jutsu! " (Thunder God Dragon Jutsu) 3 Akatsukis were thrown back and Itachi gave them the signal not to retaliate back at her. "

The others lunged at her to overwhelm her with techniques and other Jutsus. " Unfortunately, she was quite used to it because her clan used to do that to her. "

She cast another powerful jutsu, " SAKURA-RYU no Jutsu! " (Cherry Blossom Dragon Jutsu) then, the 5 others were thrown back leaving only Itachi to fight her. "

Itachi circled around her while she kept track of his movements. " Then, he began taunting her by moving his right leg quickly. " He was luring her to attack him. "

Katara was careful not to take the bait and knew he was taunting. " Then, 3 Akatsukis got behind her and tried flanking her. " Katara made one big mistake, " She looked back, unaware that Itachi was going to strike her. "

The 3 Akatsukis vanished and gave Katara no time to turn around. " Itachi dealt several slashes all over her body. " Katara staggered back and collapsed tired and exhausted from fighting a group surround attackers. "

Katara said between breaths, " (pant…pant …pant …) No… matter… what you do… you will never get the dragon spirit. " Itachi sneered, " Nice try in warning me, but, I think I'm going to kill you now. "

Katara stared at the brandished blade and looked desperately for a weapon she can use. " She checked her pockets and realized that her tanto and hayate weren't with her

She looked for her kunai but found nothing. " Itachi laughed at this and decided just to get it over with, he raised his blade and said, " See ya in hell, Chigusa. "

Katara saw the blade coming down and she closed her eyes so that she wouldn't see it anymore. " But a Genin got in the way and blocked the attack. " A boy with black hair blocked the attack. " (And no it isn't Neji)

When she opened her eyes, she saw none other than, Sasuke Uchiha. " She whispered, " Sasuke-kun… Sasuke said in an annoyed tone, " Didn't you hear Kakashi? " He told you not to wonder off! "

Katara answered, " Yeah, but… Sasuke said, " Tell me later! " I gotta deal with this guy first! " Sasuke kicked Itachi back then cast, " Katon Goukakyo no Jutsu! " (Fire Breath Jutsu) Itachi was blown back but that didn't stop him. "

Itachi smirked and said, " I can't believe you're that you're still alive and the fact that you're defending a girl from a famous assassin clan who murdered more than thousands. "

Sasuke was startled to hear this, he first looked at Katara then, he looked at Itachi and wasn't sure whether to believe Itachi or not. " But, he refused to believe it, he asked, " Why should I believe you if you killed the whole Uchiha clan in the first place? " You're the bloody assassin here! "

Itachi said, " Hn. Believe in what you want, it's not my fault if you die later. " Then, Itachi left with the other Akatsukis and left Sasuke clueless and Katara traumatized.

TBC…

Alright that ends Chapter 3! I'm sorry that it's short.


	4. Why didn't you say anything earlier?

cloudstrife22793: Phew, haven't updated this one in a long time.

Sasuke: Well, start typing, idiot. If you wanna finish…

cloudstrife22793: Sure I do! And if you don't stop bugging me, you will get it.

Sasuke: (sarcastically) Am I scared or what?

cloudstrife22793: (places a kunai near his neck) I mean it.

Sasuke: (gulp)

Sakura: Don't you dare hurt my SASUKE-KUN!

cloudstrife22793: Hinata, be a sweet girl and do the disclaimer please. While I totalize Sasuke into itty little bits.

Hinata: Ok. cloustrife22793 doesn't own any of us, Naruto characters except Katara.

Chapter 4- Why didn't you say anything earlier?

When Sasuke got home with Katara, he didn't know how to explain things like this to the others, and boy, his reaction was the strangest one ever seen. Everyone and I mean everyone in the whole Konoha Village never saw an expression like that on his face.

Sasuke looked a bit terrified and confused; he was usually the cold type of guy except for one thing: Now everyone will get a wrong impression about him. Sasuke couldn't stare at her with eye contact. She had this creepy chakra aura that he felt and that scared him.

(cloudstrife22793: The only thing that will ever scare him aside from Orochimaru and his brother. Sasuke: I'm not scared of her! cloudstrife22793: Wanna bet? Kiss my pwet! Sasuke: Forget it.) Naruto asked: Hey, what happened? Were you terrified by a rat or something?

Sasuke glared at him and said: No, why would I be terrified by a rat and I'm fine. Nothing happened. Kakashi said flatly: You suck at lying, Sasuke. Sasuke rolled his eyes and said: Just… leave me alone.

He grabbed Katara's hand and brought her upstairs to his room and decided to get answers from her.

Sasuke's Room 

Sasuke locked the door and then asked: Why are you here? Where did you come from? (cloudstrife22793: That was pretty rude.) Katara was drawn back by those questions. She actually didn't want to answer them and she just remained silent.

Sasuke said coldly: So, where's my answer? Katara didn't want to say anything and this forced Sasuke to do the worst thing he could ever do: Force out the answers the hard way. He grabbed her neck and choked her to get the answers.

Not only that, he gave her the "Sharingan Glare". (cloudstrife22793: That's what I call it.) Katara wanted to scream, but instead, she knocked him back and pinned him to the wall. Luckily, Sakura and the others heard the fight so they went straight up.

Normal 

Naruto said: I'm taking Sasuke! Sakura nodded and she pulled Katara away from Sasuke and Naruto did likewise with Sasuke. Sakura was completely shocked with what she heard from Katara and Sasuke had no other choice but to admit.

Sakura yelled: What kind of person are you, Sasuke? Are you trying to kill her! Then, a voice came from the window and it said: Don't you dare yell at Sasuke! When they looked, they saw Ino. Yamanaka Ino, a girl who has been trying to earn Sasuke's affection.

Sakura said: It's none of your darn business! You good for nothing idiot! Ino laughed and said: Me? Good for Nothing? Well, excuse me Ms. Pathetic, Naruto always has to save you or is it Sasuke just to get his affection?

Sakura drew her fist to punch Ino but Naruto stopped her and told Ino: Just leave her alone, Ino. You're pretty pathetic yourself. Katara, Kakashi and Sasuke watched them bicker and Sasuke mumbled: Boy, are they noisy. At least, Naruto is doing something smart.

Then, Kakashi turned to Sasuke and asked: Okay, what's the real situation here? Sasuke explained: Itachi attacked Katara and she left disobeying your orders and she nearly got us killed!

Kakashi looked at Katara and Katara admitted that she left without notice. Kakashi asked: What were you trying to do? Katara replied dully: I wanted to draw away the attention of the Akatsukis away from Konoha. I know how they are and how to battle them.

Kakashi said: But that doesn't mean you have to just run away like that. Katara said: True, but… Sasuke asked: But what? Katara answered: But, if I hide here, many people will get hurt and putting others in danger is not my thing.

Sasuke remained silent and then, Katara apologized: I'm sorry… I just wanted to… to… want to keep them away from you guys and you guys from danger. Sakura smiled and went to her and said: It's alright, we can protect ourselves very well, especially Sasuke.

Ino said: Who cares if we get hurt? Well, we can protect ourselves, but don't rely on Sakura for that. Sakura fumed up when Ino said that statement and Ino grinned evilly.

Naruto added: Don't worry; it might even help me achieving my dream in becoming a Hokage. Katara smiled a very small smile and Sasuke smiled at her too. But when the two girls; Sakura and Ino saw this, they became very jealous of Katara.

Later on, they all went to the ramen house and Naruto stuffed his face with food as usual, Sakura watched with embarrassment and Sasuke and Kakashi didn't seem to really care.

But, Sasuke kept on looking at Katara, who hardly said anything during dinner. Sasuke asked: Want anything? Katara looked up and said: Nothing really. I'm okay. Sasuke said: You sure? Katara assured: Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm just thinking about something.

Sasuke stared at her for a moment and then, went back to eat. While they were eating, they met Hyuuga Neji with Ten-Ten and Rock Lee. Sakura greeted: Hi, Ten-Ten! Ten-Ten grinned and greeted back: Hi, Sakura!

Hyuuga Neji and Naruto just simply shook hands and Sasuke just ignored Rock Lee. While they were talking, Neji took notice of the quiet Katara at the back. Neji nudged Naruto and said: You didn't tell me about your new girlfriend, Naruto.

Naruto looked at Neji and said: Nej, that's Katara, a new member of ours and she is not my girlfriend, she's more attached to Sasuke than to me. Neji said: Now, that's something that I hardly hear. The cold-hearted heartthrob Uchiha actually likes a girl.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and told Neji: Just shut up. Neji shrugged his shoulders and sighed, adding: That's life. Katara nudged Sasuke and whispered: He's here…

Sasuke asked: Who? Katara said: The snake… The snake that lives and feeds on other people. Sasuke muttered: Orochimaru… Then, he remembered the day when he got bitten by Orochimaru, himself after he ate the scroll.

Katara stood up silently and left the ramen house with Sasuke as they left the others there. Katara walked around trying to pick up Orochimaru scent and presence. But somehow, something felt different. Not only Orochimaru was here, but somebody else with a malicious presence.

When she looked at her left, a man suddenly lunged at her and tried piercing her with a kunai. Luckily, Sasuke grabbed her just in time and he quickly brought her somewhere far from the man.

Sasuke said: Stay here. Sasuke used his sharingan ability and tracked the man down in no time and pushed him down. The man yelled: You fool! He sent Sasuke flying and Sasuke must've hit the tree hard coz Naruto and the others found him.

Naruto asked: How the hell did you get here? Then, the man nearly hit Sasuke and guess who came to his rescue. Katara was in the man's way and she unsheathed her sais and revealed how angry and fierce she can get.

She said fiercely: Leave him alone, Takuryu! He has nothing to do with you! It's just you and me! Takuryu grinned evilly and said: Fine. It's your funeral, my dearest sister.

Sasuke wondered: Sister? Katara yelled: RIYYAH! She shoved him back and slashed him at the same time and left a bad scar on his left cheek. When he charged at Katara again, Sakura threw one of her kunais at his leg and it pierced his bone with it too.

Takuryu cried out in agony and yelled: You will pay for interfering! He slashed Sakura's face and threw her against the tree. He cast: Sand Chain! A sand shaped chain bound Sakura and it began to choke her too. (cloudstrife22793: I don't know what you call it but Gaara can do it.)

This got Naruto really mad, he cast: TAJUUKAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! He multiplied himself into 16 and he used the others to pin Takuryu down and he used 5 of them for the Rasengan.

Naruto charged at him and cast: RASENGAN! He jabbed the belly and sent him flying but he didn't fly literally, he just simply thrown back by Naruto's attack. Takuryu complimented: Not bad, for a loser ninja.

Naruto yelled: Look who's talking! You're the one who flew backwards and got hit by mwa! Naruto pointed at himself and added: You're also an idiot for trying to kidnap Katara! Takuryu chortled and said: I can't believe you're that stupid to protect a girl who was raised to be an assassin!

Naruto freaked out and yelled: What? Sakura snapped: She isn't an assassin! You are! Takuryu began quietly laughing then, he started laughing maniacally and then he said: You fool! She is from the famed Chigusa clan! The only clan that can release the dragon arts!

Sakura and the others stood there shocked, Neji, who was listening attentively and then, he asked to clarify: You mean, the clan that killed an army of 900000 by just using their Jutsus?

Takuryu nodded and Ten-Ten looked cautiously at Katara, then, out of nowhere a shaiken appeared and pierced Takuryu's arm, followed by several kunais came in soaring through the air and it hit Takuryu and made him bleed.

Takuryu howled in pain and then, Sasuke added: Look who's the idiot. Takuryu looked at the Uchiha and said: What a moron. Taking a cheap shot like that. Sasuke grinned and said: Well, that's just too bad because you're the bigger moron attacking me because I got back-up.

Neji drew a kunai followed by Ten-ten and Rock Lee put a fist by Takuryu's face. Sasuke smiled and said: You're doomed if you attack one of them. Takuryu gulped and then, Katara finally spoke up by saying: Step down. I'll handle him.

They all stepped aside and Katara stood in front of him glowing with the same gold aura she emitted last time. Takuryu said: It's about time the little assassin stopped hiding behind her pawns.

Katara snapped: They're not pawns! They are my friends, you bastard! You treat your own friends as if they are simply tools or shit to you! Takuryu cheerfully said: I'm glad to hear the true interior of the assassin of the Chigusa clan, but, I never knew you would protect people.

That statement only made Katara more pissed; she drew her hayate and charged at Takuryu and striked his arm. Takuryu however was able to step back but, he ended up stumbling and he fell right on his butt.

When he was on the floor, Katara glared at him mercilessly and then, Takuryu began begging for mercy. Unfortunately, she was not softened and she raised her hayate and plunged it into his chest.

Blood spilled on the floor and it spluttered against her face. Her hands were covered with blood, and so was her face. When she faced the others, they all drew back except Sasuke; who understood perfectly well her intentions of doing that.

Katara began to cry slightly but, her tears didn't show. She dropped her hayate and darted off towards the forest. Sasuke looked at the direction she was going and then, he darted to follow her.

Sakura said: Sasuke-kun! But, Kakashi stopped her and said: He needs to confront her on his own. He won't get any answers if Katara is pressured by us. Sakura sadly backed away and whispered at the cold air: I hope he will be okay.

Meanwhile, Katara was running and confusing Sasuke by going in different directions. Sasuke sometimes had to hesitate but in the end, he picked the correct direction.

When he found her, he found her at the heart of the forest and Katara raised her tanto ready to plunge it into her own heart. Sasuke yelled: Katara, you idiot! No!

TBC…

That's the 4th chapter! By the way, reviews!


	5. Confidence

Sasuke: So, are you done yet?  
cloudstrife22793: Not really, we got 8 or more chapters to go.

Sakura: Weee! Yay! I get to be with Sasuke! And of course, my dear Naruto.

cloudstrife22793: Awww, isn't that sweet? Anyway, Ino and Hinata, disclaimers!

Ino and Hinata together: cloudstrife22793 doesn't own any of us except Katara!

cloudstrife22793: Alrighty, then! Let's get it started!

Chapter 5- Confidence

Sasuke yelled: Katara, no! He darted and grabbed her hand before she could stab herself. Katara yelled: Let me go! Ngh! She tried struggling and shaking Sasuke's grip off her.

Sasuke made sure his grip was really firm and he refused to let go until she finally gave in and dropped the tanto on the floor. When he let go, she attempted to get it again but Sasuke kicked it away from her.

Katara snapped at him: What are you doing? Leave me alone! I want to die in peace! Sasuke told her: Killing yourself won't help, trust me. Katara yelled: Do you have nay idea how it feels like to always be chased?

Sasuke answered: No, but I can understand it by simply looking into your eyes. Katara stood there puzzled and wondered: My eyes? Sasuke nodded and cupped her chin and smiled.

Katara felt that she could place more of her confidence in him. She leaned on him and began whimpering and sobbing. Sasuke embraced her and when that happened it began raining in the forest but this time Sasuke didn't complain.

Sasuke whispered to her: Come on, let's go home before Naruto sees me do this and he's not going stop annoying me. It will be nonstop and he will be acting more of an idiot than I already think he is.

Katara began giggling when she heard Sasuke talk about Naruto like that. She said: Well, play his games. He just wants your attention, Sasuke. Sasuke said: You know what? You're the only girl who never called me Sasuke-kun.

The bluenette asked: Really? Sasuke said: Yeah, Ino calls me that; Sakura calls me that and probably other girls also! But for you, I'm leaving you as an exception; I'm allowing you to call me that.

Katara said: It's okay; I prefer calling you just Sasuke. Sasuke was pretty glad that she wouldn't give him a pet name. It was already bad enough that many girls called him Sasuke-kun.

Sasuke got up and Katara and he darted on trees on their way home.

When they got home, Sakura and Naruto started bombarding them with questions. Questions like: Where were you guys? What did you guys do? Did you two go on a date or something?

Sasuke's answer to all these questions was: It's none of your business. Katara's response was: Just drop the issue, it's nothing, we just took a walk, that's all. Then, the two went up to Sasuke's room and locked the door.

When they were both inside, they couldn't help themselves from laughing. Even the cold-hearted Uchiha was laughing. Katara said: Did you see their faces? It looked so hilarious when they asked us those questions!

Sasuke added: I could imagine Sakura's face burning with anger if I told her you could call me "Sasuke-kun". They were laughing and rolling on their beds and they ended up bumping into each other and kissing each other again!

Sasuke and Katara slowly sat up and got their lips off each other. Sasuke said: Forget that ever happened… Katara nodded and said: Good idea…

Then, she heard Sasuke's stomach growling. Sasuke said: Don't mind it. That thing always plays pranks. Katara snickered and said: I know you're hungry, Sasuke.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and he finally said: Yeah, I'm a little bit hungry and the last time I ate Sakura's cooking, I went to the bathroom 6 times every 5 minutes.

Katara giggled and said: Sounds like a bad case of diarrhea. Sasuke said: Believe me, her cooking suckz. Katara said: You wouldn't mind giving me a try would you? Sasuke looked at her and asked: You can cook?

Katara said: Yeah, just wait downstairs and I go make dinner for all of us. She unlocked the door and beckoned Sasuke to go downstairs. Sasuke went downstairs and sat down with the others while Sakura and Katara did the cooking.

After 45 minutes, Sakura called out: Food's ready! Katara and Sakura laid out the food on the table and then, they took their seats. Naruto said: Itadakimasu! (Alright, let's eat now!)

They all started eating including Sasuke, who was hoping Katara fixed Sakura's cooking. In fact, she improved it. It tasted better than before. Kakashi said: My compliments to the chef. Whoever did this...

Sakura said: Katara did it, she said she'd give it a try and I was just there to make sure she doesn't blow up anything. Sasuke ate it and actually liked it. He said: Not bad…

Naruto ate like a pig and said: This is much better than a 5 star restaurant's cooking! Katara said: Arigatou… She was smiling weakly and then, Sakura and Katara followed after the boys.

Sakura asked during dinner: Where did you learn on how to cook? Katara said: Books… I just kept on reading them until I memorized the whole recipe. It wasn't that easy, I had to break my neck for it.

After dinner, they all went straight home but, Katara had no place to stay in. Sakura offered her place but Sasuke told her that it was best for her to stay in his place.

So, Sasuke walked with Katara to his place and they looked around at some stuff along the way. Sasuke asked her: Do you ever feel cold in this kind of weather?

Katara shook her head and said: Nope, because our weather was also like this in our clan's territory. Sasuke mumbled: Oh… Katara took of her scarf that she was wearing and she put it around his neck.

She said: Here, this will keep you from getting a stiff neck. She tied it into a fashionable knot and Sasuke looked at it strangely. No one ever did these kinds of things to Sasuke. He wasn't really used to these things.

Sasuke mumbled: Thanks, I needed that. When they reached Sasuke's place, the place had been wrecked up. Not to mention, there was a kunai stuck on the wall with a note that said:

Sasuke Uchiha, meet me at the Konoha School Yard

I'll be waiting for you right there.

Also, bring the girl with you and make sure Katara and you are the only ones there.

Don't bring Naruto and the others with you or else…

-Anonymous

Sasuke held the note and then, Katara asked: Who's it from? Sasuke mumbled: Itachi… or worse… Orochimaru could be there with some other strange people. Katara added cheerfully: Or it could also be from one of my clan members who are desperate to kill me…

Sasuke looked at her strangely and said: And you're happy about it? Katara said: No, but I'm pretty sure that they will be there… Sasuke said: Really now? Katara nodded and said: Yeah… They also like hunting down Uchihas and other members who betrayed our clan.

Sasuke muttered: Well, they're only 2 Uchihas in this world and that's me and Itachi, that's for sure. But I think I kinda prefer Itachi dead. Katara heard him but she didn't say anything in fact she kinda liked the same thing: Itachi deserves to die.

So, Sasuke and Katara decided to go to the school yard even though there was a big chance of having them killed. Katara brought out her things and Sasuke started using Sharingan just in case someone would just try to kill them.

So, they walked up cautiously towards the yard and then, few jounins from her clan sailed over the fence and surrounded them both. Katara drew her hayate and her tanto while Sasuke drew his shuriken blade.

Katara said: Let's get this party started! She lunged and slashed through them like a deer through the reeds in an open field. Sasuke threw his shuriken in a spiral way and it sliced through the air and most of the jounins were able to escape the attack in one piece that is…

Sasuke looked up and every possible hiding place and then, he seemed to get hit by something invisible. Katara muttered: Oh no… If I don't get him outta there, say hello to Sasuke in sushi pieces!

Katara did a seal and cast: YAMI-RYU NO JUTSU! (Dark Dragon Jutsu) From her hand, a black and violet dragon appeared and it slaughtered all the invisible ninjas like a lion slaughtering a bull.

Sasuke asked her: How did you do that and how come the dragon knows where to hit! Katara said: That's because I can see where they are… They are just sitting idly waiting for you to drop your guard. That move they did was called the invisible jutsu.

Sasuke wondered: Invisible Jutsu? Katara nodded and said: It's an attack that runs through the clan… most of the ninjas have it in my clan. Sasuke nodded and asked: Are there anymore? Without them knowing, the commander of the group came out of nowhere and attempted to hit them.

Before they could even defend, another Jounin countered the attack and sent him backwards. They looked up and saw Kakashi with one kunai in his hand and then he told them: You do realize it is past your bedtime you know.

Sasuke said: Yeah, obviously… Katara said: No… I sleep at different times… Kakashi sighed and said: Get back! They all leaped out of the way as a rain of kunais landed on the place they were in. Then, one of the jounins crept behind Sasuke and was striked by somebody else.

Sasuke looked back and saw Naruto smiling and saying: You didn't see that coming, huh? Sasuke rolled his eyes and went on to help Katara. The commander said: Attack with full force, don't let the dragon girl get away! When a Genin from the group attacked, Sakura got in the way and threw her down.

The Genin landed on her butt and she said: Time for payback! The girl drew her kunai and fought against Sakura. Sakura simply dodged all her hits and hit her real hard with her left hand and then, she slashed her face.

The girl drew back revolted with what Sakura had done to her face. She removed the mask and revealed her face and she turned out to be Katara's best friend in the clan, Mitari. Katara was shocked and then she asked: Mitari?

Mitari snarled: You'll pay for this! She lunged at Sakura and Sakura was completely caught off guard. Sakura let out a scream but luckily, Naruto came to her rescue and blocked the attack and kicked her far and she landed and hit the tree.

When her comrades saw this, they immediately launched another attack against the others, Sasuke was surrounded by 6, and Katara was fighting around 5 with Naruto. While Kakashi was left to take down the leader.

Naruto said: I think, it's time to transform… Naruto put his fingers together and cast: Henge! (Transform or Transfigure) A white puff of smoke covered Naruto and Naruto looked like a woman in no clothes posing in a seductive way.

The ninjas collapsed in front of them and then Naruto said with a triumphant smile: Oh, yeah! That was easy! Katara said: They're not yet finished with us yet, Naruto. The ninjas got up and charged at them. Katara did a seal and cast: KAI-RYU JIN EN BU! (Sea Dragon Circular Dance)

A tornado of water appeared revealing a huge dragon and it swamped all of them in one blow and several of them just vanished. The others came back for more and started shooting kunais and more throwing knives.

Naruto was slashed several times and Katara was slashed the most compared to Naruto. Then, Sakura appeared just in time to kill the other Jounins and she made sure that she killed a few so Naruto and Katara can regroup.

Katara leaped over one and cast: RASENGAN! She hit one guy and she used that guy as a wall so that she could ricochet and she could kick the other guy and she could get a good aim on the other guy and she stabbed his head and flipped over and kicked the one who got behind her.

Then, Mitari attacked and tried killing Sasuke with the others, but Katara came to his rescue and diverted her away from Sasuke so he won't have any distractions. Mitari was flung back towards the building and Katara lunged at her to give her a good reason why not to hurt her friends.

Mitari did a seal and cast: TAJUUKAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! (Multiplying Shadow Jutsu) Katara cast: TSUBAKI NO MAI! (Dance of the Camellia, I'm not sure) Katara slashed left, right, up, down and then, she tossed her to the air and slashed her back down.

Mitari summoned her shadows to attack Katara and while they diverted her, she slashed her with a special kind of blade. When they landed on their feet, Katara said: You've improved… pant pant 

Mitari said: You too… but you're still careless, my good friend… Katara asked: What do you mean careless? Mitari explained: I was able to slash you know. And we, Chigusas, don't tolerate wounds like those.

Katara got up and said: Well, at least it's only a scratch… Then, Katara suddenly dropped onto her knees and then shouted: What the--? Mitari grinned in delight and said: Looks like you can't fight any longer, Katara! You're defenseless!

Mitari raised her own tanto and said: Good-bye, Katara Chigusa… Katara closed her eyes and instead of feeling pain, she heard steel grinding each other. She opened her eyes and she found Kakashi blocking the tanto with his own kunai.

Mitari looked at the towering white headed man above her; she was terrified by Kakashi, who was showing his sharingan because he forgot to cover it. Kakashi said: Looks like we win the battle…

Mitari stood there shocked and she stumbled back and then, she looked around and all of the others were dead, all her comrades. Sakura and Sasuke walked up next to Kakashi followed by Naruto who was dragging the leader behind him.

Mitari screeched at Katara: You're going to pay, traitor! She darted and escaped before they could go after her. Naruto was ready to chase her but, Katara yelled: Don't! Leave her alone! Naruto asked: Why? Katara said: I'll explain later… Ngh…

The paralysis began to take effect, Sasuke walked over to her and she looked up at Sasuke and gave a slight smile. Sasuke gave her a smile also and then, he decided to carry her back.

He lifted her and carried her (piggy back style) and then he asked: What are we waiting for? Sakura and the others were kinda surprised that he would do that but they didn't question him any further.

Sakura decided: Since my house is the closest, we'll head there. Naruto agreed and Kakashi added: That also gives us a chance to be prepared for the next attack and to find out why Katara is paralyzed.

They all walked home after such a tough battle had occurred but they didn't spot a spy from Orochimaru's hideout. Kakashi however felt his presence but when he turned to look, the spy was no longer there. So, he went on his way, but he was certain somebody was there.

When they reached Sakura's house, Katara was completely unstable, the drug that she just got hit by was not only a paralysis type, but it could also kill and how? By poisoning.

Katara lay pale on Sakura's bed and she was even feeling cold. Sasuke remained beside her and he was telling himself: Please… please… Katara-chan… please make it out in one piece.

TBC…..

cloudstrife22793: Okay, that's chapter 5! I leave you 3 choices:

Katara dies

Katara lives

Katara is kidnapped and mind controlled but she's cured already.

cloudstrife22793: Alright that's kinda about it…

Naruto: I pick 2!

Sasuke: Hn. (shows his fingers showing# 2)

Sakura: I have no idea, but I'd like # 1.

(Sasuke looks at her strangely and says: You're an idiot.)


	6. Another Attempt

cloudstrife22793: Alright, sorry for not updating the Naruto coz, I was watching the cartoon to understand it better.

Naruto: Yay! Make me kill Sasuke!

Sakura: No! Don't you dare cloudstrife22793!

Me: Ulp! What should I decide? Hinata?

Hinata: I don't know….

Me: Ino?

(Ino shrugs)

Me: Aaaaack! I'll just ask Kakashi!

Kakashi: Just write the story and I'll help you from there.

Chapter 6- Another Attempt

While Katara stayed in bed, Sakura was training in order to get Sasuke's attention. She noticed how much attention Katara got from Sasuke and she thought that because she was a better fighter than she.

Sakura started with target practice and then, she started with taijutsu after. A voice behind her asked: "So you're training to overpower Katara aren't you, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura looked behind her and saw Naruto sitting on a tree branch. Sakura nodded and said: "I don't know how or why she can get Sasuke's attention. But, I'm going to train until I'm stronger than she is!"

Naruto smirked and said: "Really?" Sakura said: "Yeah! Every time she's in trouble, I don't know why Sasuke always comes to her rescue and every time I need his help, he only helps me sometimes!"

Naruto walked over to her and said: "Well, don't mind Sasuke. Coz I'll be there to help you anytime. I already have proved it to you." Sakura blushed and kissed Naruto mechanically and left him on the field.

Naruto just stood there not knowing what to do. Then, he followed after Sakura. The next day, Katara finally awoke from her chilly sleep and she was left all alone in Sakura's house.

Katara called out: "Hello!" She got up and asked herself: "Where is everybody?" While she walked through the hallway, she sensed somebody's presence. She unsheathed her hayate and waited for the figure to move closer.

She was at the corner of the hallway and when she reached the end, she made a sudden movement and put a knife at Kakashi's neck. Kakashi was staring at her strangely and she apologized: "Gomenosai, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi said: "It's alright, that's normal anyway."

He asked her: "So, you're all alone in the house?" Katara nodded and Kakashi slapped his forehead and said: "Okay… Come with me." He led her to the place where Naruto and the team first faced him. Katara asked: "Where is this?"

Kakashi replied: "This is the place where I trained Sakura and the others. Right now, I need you to do something for me." Katara said: "Okay, what is it?" Kakashi unsheathed his kunai and zipped past her. Katara was drawn aback by this and had no other option but to fight.

Katara brought out her favorite duo, the hayate and the tanto. She spun it and positioned herself for Kakashi's next attack. Katara did a seal and cast: "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." She made multiples of herself and vanished along with some of her shadows.

When Kakashi dealt the death blow, her multiples vanished into thin air and he copied her attack and she didn't even expect it. Then, she knew it was her turn to attack. She leaped from her hiding place and cast: "Yami-Ryu-No-Jutsu!" A black dragon appeared and attacked Kakashi.

Kakashi simply just stood there and got hit. But when he got hit, all that was there was a log with scratches with it. Katara muttered: "Oh great. Good going, Chigusa." She heard a sprint within the forest and she vanished again, thinking it was Kakashi.

When she chased the "fake" Kakashi through the forest, he stood there not doing anything. Katara asked: "So, you're just going to stand there are you?" Kakashi turned around and revealed snake eyes. Katara drew back ready to dart off, knowing it was a trap laid for her.

She backed up and accidentally hit Kabuto, who was right behind her. Kabuto grabbed her from behind but she didn't give up here. She gave him a good kick in the face and tried to find a way to lose them.

Meanwhile, the real Kakashi was with the team, meaning Naruto and the others and they were already heading back. Naruto wondered: "Do you think it was a good idea to leave her alone in the house?"

Sakura said: "Yeah, sure. She'll be fine. She's an assassin, remember? She can kill anybody. If she desires it." Sasuke however, was pretty worried about her being left alone. Sasuke was pretty silent when she wasn't around, but if Katara's around he'd talk to her.

Then, they saw Katara running from Sakura's house (who was actually Kabuto in disguise). She ran to them and said: "I need your help…. Orochimaru is here." Sakura shrieked: "Whaaaaaaaaat?" Naruto said: "That's it! Let's kill him."

When Katara led them to the field where she was going to trap them, Sakura said: "I don't see Orochimaru anywhere, Katara." Katara laughed evilly and said: "You guys are really idiots." They were cornered by Taiyuya's puppets. Sakura yelled: "Why are you doing this, Katara?"

Katara smirked and said: "It's because…" Then, the disguise fell away and revealed Kabuto. Kabuto said: "I'm not really the Chigusa girl. She's actually dealing with Orochimaru and I bet she's dead by now." Naruto yelled: "You wanna bet that?"

Sasuke didn't like this one bit. He drew one of his kunais, activated his sharingan and slashed through the mindless puppets. Sasuke charged up energy and cast: "Chidori!" He bust through them and sent them flying.

Then, Kakashi casted Chidori also but, this time, he had two. One on each hand (cloudstrife22793: "He could do that in the game, I've seen him do it.") He blasted 3 away from Sakura and Naruto while Naruto cast his Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu.

Naruto charged against one and did his favorite combo known as the "Uzomaki Naruto Rendan". He sent the puppet flying and sent him down and his face crashed straight on the hard soil.

While they were fighting, their fight was interrupted by Katara's and Orochimaru's. Katara was thrown back and hit several times without stop. Katara backed away as far as she could and then, she charged up and did the same thing Kakashi did. (Kakashi: She can do that? cloudstrife22793: She's my character, and I'm giving her that much chakra.)

She cast: "Chidori!" She charged towards Orochimaru and hit him hard, but he was able to grab her left arm and twist it then, he threw her back. Orochimaru said confidently: "Now, I can mark her body as my host." He stretched his neck, ready to bite her.

Then, someone cast from behind: "Katon Goukakyo No Jutsu!" Fire burned Orochimaru but that didn't even pull Orochimaru down. He turned around and hit Sasuke and made Sasuke hit a tree, back first.

Katara knew she could hit Orochimaru from here. She got one of her shaikens and aimed it for his face. Unfortunately, he caught it and threw it towards Sasuke and he hit Sasuke's leg, causing him to limp.

Katara snapped: "You ugly--!" She got up and with her assault of shaikens, shurikens and kunais. She shot them towards Orochimaru and this time, she got a perfect shot. She pierced his body about 15 times and she shot around 20 of them.

Orochimaru didn't howl in pain, he went through worse things like losing his soul or immortality, I don't know, when he fought the 3rd Hokage. He turned towards her and sent kunais straight for her. She drew her tanto and hayate and blocked all shots.

Then, Sakura got a talisman and wrapped it around her kunai and she went straight for Orochimaru. When she jabbed his arm, it was like he didn't really feel anything. She saw the blood trickling down but he didn't howl or do anything.

Instead, he threw her towards Naruto and Naruto nearly toppled over because of her momentum. But since he was half demon-fox, he quickly recovered and cast: "RASENGAN!"

A blue energy ball appeared at his hand and tried to hit Orochimaru. But, Orochimaru grabbed his hand and tossed him back as if he were just a fly. Then, Kabuto went after Sakura and tried assassinating her.

Sakura dodged every hit, no problem. Then, she timed her blow right and stabbed him with her kunai and she saw blood gushing out of his stomach. Sakura, however, didn't like the sight of that, so she backed up immediately before she could faint.

Then, while Orochimaru got distracted, Sasuke, even though he was limping, he managed to jab Orochimaru on the back. Then, Katara took a blow and they both were able to pin point his weak parts.

Then, Orochimaru realizing he was outnumbered, of course who wouldn't when you have a top assassin Genin (Katara), a high leveled ninja (Kakashi) and 3 other Genins who are beyond normal except Sakura (Sasuke and Naruto).

He smashed a "torinoko" or smoke bomb on the ground and vanished along with Kabuto. When the battle was over, Sakura said: "That felt good!" Katara looked over the horizon and Sasuke was looking at her.

Sasuke went near her and asked: "Daijobu?" Katara looked at him and replied: "It's nothing, I'm fine." She stared at the horizon and she knew that someone else was going to get her, but they won't get her the next day. But an indefinite time.

Kakashi said: "Come on, let's go." He beckoned the whole team plus Katara, and they all went home to get ready for the competition the next day. Sakura asked: "Katara, are you going to stay in my place or Sasuke's?"

Katara answered: "I guess Sasuke's. Most of my things are there." Then, they took different ways to go home.

First Match:

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Hyuuga Neji

Uzomaki Naruto vs. Gaara of the Desert

Chigusa Katara vs. Temari of the Desert

Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino

Akimichi Chouji vs. Nara Shikamaru

cloudstrife22793: And that concludes today's chapter.

Naruto: Are you trying to sound like a teacher?

cloudstrife22793: No, I'm just saying. Is there a problem with that?

Naruto: No. Just asking.

Sasuke: Why do we get attacked by them every chapter?

cloudstrife22793: Don't worry about that Sasuke. You'll go through a tournament later anyway.

Sakura: By the way, don't forget reviews dear readers!


	7. A Dragon's Determination

cloudstrife22793: Time to update my Naruto!

Naruto: Finally! I get to kick Sasuke's butt!

Sasuke: Like I will ever let you, that is…

Katara: I don't get why you guys always fight….

Sakura: Maybe it's becoz Naruto is the stupidest asshole in the world?

Ino: Or maybe is it the fact that they want to beat each other up.

cloudstrife22793: Alright! Now to present to you our guest speaker, Temari!

Temari: Hello.

cloudstrife22793: By the way, I need a disclaimer!

Temari: The author doesn't own any of us, Naruto characters except Katara!

Chapter 7- A dragon's determination

There they were standing in front of the place where they will be battling each other. This was a contest to see who was more powerful than the rest and Katara and the others had signed except Kakashi.

They were all given a list that was going to be first and Sasuke was the first one. This was only the preliminaries but in a different way, you have to win at least 2 battles to move on to the next round.

Neji and Sasuke were up first. Actually, Neji had the upper hand here since he was more trained than Sasuke plus he was smarter than the guy and his byakuggan is stronger than Sasuke's sharingan.

The announcer declared: "Ready, 3…2…1 fight!" Neji lunged at Sasuke and Sasuke gathered energy at his hand and cast: "Chidori!" When Neji saw this coming, he quickly stopped and cast: "Kaiten!" He spun and created a dome of chakra and threw Sasuke backwards.

Sasuke landed harshly on his back but he didn't give up, he still went on and threw a whole assault of kunais from every direction possible. Neji, unfortunately for Sasuke, used the Kaiten again and bounced all his shurikens back to him like always.

Finally, Sasuke got pretty fed up with Neji's defensive strategy and he did a seal and cast: "Katon Ryuuka No Jutsu!" A large fire dragon appeared and chased Neji. Neji leaped up and got behind Sasuke and did the nastiest thing that he always does. He cast: "Byakuggan!"

He hit Sasuke pretty hard and he started punching him so quickly and he was not only damaging Sasuke but as well as his chakra. He hit Sasuke rapidly and it was so fast that you could hardly see his hands and while Neji was at it, he strengthened his attacks by using his own chakra.

Sasuke tried blocking every move he could until he was able to find an opening and he grabbed Neji's hands during the assault and then, he threw him up into the air and then, kicked him. But, Neji caught his left leg and what he didn't notice was Sasuke's right leg coming straight for him.

Sasuke hit him and then, he spun around and punched him then, he slammed his right leg on Neji and had them both plummeting towards the ground. Neji and Sasuke hit the floor hard and then Sasuke commented: "I call that, the Shi Shendan."(Or in other words, the "Lion's Combo")

Neji got up and wiped the blood from his mouth and said: "I'm impressed. After you got possessed by Sarutobi and you were against Naruto, I'm impressed that you could do something like that." Sasuke said: "I'd rather have less talking and more fighting."

Sasuke charged again and this time he used the wind devil hand swords and threw it towards Neji. Neji backed up and threw two shurikens and cast: "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shuriken Shadow Clone Skill)

The shurikens warded off Sasuke's attack and this was able to give Neji time to really nail Sasuke. Neji pivoted right behind Sasuke and knocked him with a good whack or two and then, threw him and sent him flying towards the wall.

The one thing that Sasuke didn't think of using in the first place was the sharingan. He wasn't using it and Neji was already using byakuggan. Then, Sasuke recovered from his fall very quickly coz here comes Neji all set to finish him off and you wanna know what happen?

Neji won the first match and Sasuke got his first loss. A lot of people may think I was going to make Sasuke win, but no. I didn't want him to win. The announcer declared: "Winner: Hyuuga Neji!" His team went wild and Ten-ten was jumping up and down, rejoicing.

The others were simply just applauding. Neji went over to Sasuke and said: "That was a great match, Sasuke." Sasuke said coldly: "Yeah, whatever." He walked away and stood near Sakura and Naruto and Katara and Naruto as you know was laughing at him.

Naruto hooted with laughter and said: "I can't believe it! Uchiha Sasuke got beaten by the guy who I beat last time!" Katara said: "It's alright, Sasuke. At least you have a chance to participate. You can always kick Naruto's butt anyway."

Naruto added: "Yeah, and—wait a minute!" Sasuke smiled at Katara and Katara smiled back. Sakura said: "Yeah, Katara's right. You're next match might be even easier than Neji."

Kakashi added: "After all, the Hyuuga clan is also one of the elite clans in Konohagure." Sasuke said: "Now, you tell me." Then, the next match was Katara versus Temari of the desert.

Katara stepped into the ring as Temari taunted: "So, are we going to finish this or what?" Katara muttered under her breath: "Never underestimate your opponents, Temari. For your own confidence can be your own downfall."

Temari opened her fan and said: "I can help you, if you wanna lose." Katara said: "I'm not going to back down." Then, the usual announcer thing and the match started. Temari cast: "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" (Tornado Skill)

A large hurricane charged towards Katara and Katara jumped away and cast: "Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"(Water Element, Water Dragon Blast Skill) The dragon countered Temari's attack and used it as a manipulator to throw the attack back at Temari.

Then, Katara brought out her two weapons, the sais and went straight for Temari. Katara did a Ninjutsu seal and cast: "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" She summoned 5 copies of herself which were used to seduce Temari while she did a complex jutsu.

Temari said: "You can't do things like this too well, Chigusa." Temari swung her fan and created a gust and blew them all away. They all disappeared after 5 seconds when they got hit and then, Temari heard someone cast: "Kokuryu No Jutsu!"(Black Dragon Wave Skill)

A large black dragon appeared and totalized Temari and sent her towards the wall. When Temari was going to use one of her kunais, Katara shot her two sais and pinned both her long sleeves.

Temari was left on the wall as Katara did another jutsu which was even more complex than her last one: The Hien Housenka No Jutsu. In other words, the Scarlet Flame Phoenix Fire Skill.

This skill allows Katara to summon a huge amount of fire and shoot them from her mouth like Sasuke and when they come down they multiply and become an entire assault. First, Katara did the sign of the Rooster and Dragon twice followed by the sign of the horse then, tiger.

Katara cast: "Hien Housenka No Jutsu!" A huge fireball appeared and then multiplied into 10 larger ones than the one she created. Temari quickly cast: "Kawarimi no Jutsu!" (Substitute Skill)

When Temari got hit, she turned into a little log that was scorched by Katara's flame and this was more lethal than most of Katara's attacks. Gaara wondered: "Where did my sister go?" He looked up and saw Temari using her huge fan as a glider.

Kankuro said: "Does this answer your question?" Gaara nodded and said to himself: "Geez, never seen a Genin do something like that lethal. There are only 2 theories for that, it's either she has a spirit imprisoned inside her or it's because she trained herself harder than anybody else here."

Katara looked around and panicked. She wasn't used to fighting ninjas from Hide in the Sands Village and it so happens Temari was from there. Temari said: "Hey bonehead!" Katara looked up and saw Temari flying up in the air.

Katara charged a lot of chakra in her palm and then split it. Temari shouted: "How the heck did she do that?" Katara leaped high and cast: "Chidori!" She slammed Temari down but Temari luckily recovered her balance and flew up again for an aerial assault.

Temari wondered: "Isn't it a bit weird for a Genin to have that much chakra after all the seals she's been using? Oh well…" Temari cast: "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Sand Clone Skill) (I know, only Gaara can do that but I need more Jutsus that Temari mastered)

A sand clone of herself appeared and flanked Katara. Not only did Katara master the Kage Bunshin, but she mastered other Bunshin techniques. She cast: "Mizu Bunshin No Jutsu!" A water based copy of herself appeared and went after Temari's sand copy.

Temari taunted: "You'll never beat me! That's for sure!" Temari cast: "Double Kamaitachi No Jutsu!" Two tornadoes that just became bigger flanked Katara and blasted her towards the wall. Unfortunately, Katara lost control of her water copy, so it vanished.

Then, Temari's sand copy attacked her together with the original and started attacking her. Sakura yelled: "Come on Katara!" Katara thought to herself: "I can't give up now, I've come so far! After beating Orochimaru and other people especially from my clan…!"

Katara charged chakra at her right palm and she told herself fiercely: "I only have one shot!" She slammed her palmed against Temari and cast: "Rasengan!" Temari flew to the other side of the field and crashed into the wall.

Then, to finish her off, Katara took out some shaikens and shurikens and kunais and shot them towards Temari. Unknown to Katara; that was one big mistake she made. Temari could easily block minor weapons like those she just threw.

Temari said: "Pretty foolish, I'd say." She lifted her fan and blew them towards Katara's direction and Katara was caught of guard. Luckily, she had a back-up plan and she cast: "Kohenkyou no Jutsu!" (Teleportation Skill)

She replaced Temari in her place and cast: "Kage Mane No Jutsu!" (Shadow Bind Skill) She bound Temari from moving and Temari got hit instead. Temari wasn't pierced at any of the sensitive parts, it was only her clothes and she was completely out of chakra and weapons.

The referee declared: "Winner: Katara Chigusa!" Sakura was jumping up and down and Naruto shouted: "Yatta!"(Alright!) Sasuke had a wide smile and Katara looked up towards her teammates and Kakashi showed her a look of approval.

Katara smiled and went back up. Then, the next battle was between the bitterest of rivals, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura. When their names were called, Sakura and Ino glared at each other and they had stunningly powerful eye contact.

Sasuke had anime sweat drops, Hyuuga Neji was staring at them strangely and Chouji, well, was too busy eating to notice. Katara went up and found them still at it for 5 minutes. Katara nudged Naruto and asked: "What's with them?"

Naruto explained: "Sakura and Ino are people who fight over stupid tings like Sasuke." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke and glared at him while Sasuke doesn't really give a damn about it.

The 2 girls stepped into the battlefield, ready to tear each other apart. The referee gave the signals and the battle between the girls started.

cloudstrife22793: That is chapter 7 for you Naruto fans and get ready for the next chapter: A girl's burning will

Sasuke: Geez….

cloudstrife22793: What is it?

Sasuke: Those girls are annoying when they do that.

Katara: Yeah, I think I get it.

Katara: By the way, pls. send reviews for cloudstrife22793!


	8. A Burning Girl's Will

cloudstrife22793: Here we are, back to Naruto!

Naruto: Alright! Who's the next in battling?

cloudstrife22793: First up, we have Sakura and Ino followed by Shikamaru and Chouji!

Sasuke: That's new, teammates going against each other.

cloudstrife22793: After all, Sasuke, this is only the preliminary rounds.

Sakura: Yeah, she's right. Who cares who goes against whom?

Ino: She does have a point right there.

cloudstrife22793: Okay, time for disclaimer! And today's speaker is Hyuuga Hinata!

Hinata: Okay, cloudstrife22793 doesn't own any of us except Katara and other people from the Chigusa clan!

cloudstrife22793: Okay, thank you Hinata! Now, on with the story…

Chapter 8- A girl's burning will

Ino and Sakura had already started assaulting each other with weapons and other things they had with them. Then, Ino cast: "Shinranshin No Jutsu!"(Body and Mind Disturbance Technique) She took use of Sakura without leaving her body.

Ino made Sakura stand there; then, Ino did her favorite Taijutsu known as the Jyuuroku Rendan or the 16 hit combo. She kicked, punched, slapped her and then finished her off with a somersault kick. Sakura was flung back but that didn't stop Sakura from trying.

Sakura cast: "Bunshin No Jutsu!"(Cloning Technique) She multiplied herself into 3 and charged at Ino. Then, Ino did another jutsu to counter hers: "Jibaku Bunshin No Jutsu!"(Suicide Bombing Clone) She created a clone that blew itself up and she was able to take out Sakura's clones.

Sakura, who was already pissed off with Ino, you could imagine her inner Sakura saying: "I'm going to send your sorry ass to hell!" Sakura did a taijutsu that was taught to her by Tsunade, known as the Sakura Fubuki No Jutsu or the Sakura Blizzard Technique.

She kicked, slashed, and sent Ino high up in the air. Then, Sakura cast: "Hien!" (Flying Swallow) She leaped up and kicked Ino straight down, but what she kicked was a substitute log made by Ino.

Then, Ino came from behind and she cast: "Shuriken Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" She threw 2 shurikens that multiplied into 9 shurikens and it all shot towards Sakura. Then, Sakura cast: "Kawirimi!" She replaced herself with a log and made the log take her place.

Then, she got behind Ino and punched her, Ino however when she got punched expected that and she ducked and grabbed Sakura's hand and threw her against the floor and she made sure she hit it hard.

Ino smirked and said: "Well, too bad Sakura. Looks like I'm going to win again!" Sakura murmured: "Bakero…" (Stupid Idiot…) Sakura got up and kicked Ino and this time she got Ino's face. Ino was thrown back but she easily recovered.

Sakura vowed loudly: "I promised my self I'd never lose to you, Yamanaka Ino!" Ino laughed and said: "You think you can get me that easily? Watch this." She put her fingers together and she cast: "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Technique)

Ino multiplied into 10 and she hit Sakura from all different angles. Then, she did hand seals again and cast: "Ninpou: Hyakkaryouran!" (Illusion, flower pierce) She made Sakura think that she was in a garden of flowers, but behind the bushes, Ino shot out 3 flower darts that hit Sakura's limbs.

Sakura collapsed and then, the vision changed and showed her that Ino was just in front of her, smirking and giggling with delight. Sakura snarled: "Kuso!" (Damn it!) Ino taunted: "What's the matter Sakura? Too weak to get up?"

Sakura snarled: "No, I'm just getting started!" She gave a good punch and hit Ino's nose and then, followed by a scissor kick and she clipped Ino's legs and sweep-kicked Ino and Ino fell flat on he butt.

Ino said: "That's it!" She got up and hit Sakura with her leg and kicked her real far.

Ino's P.O.V 

No way! I told myself fiercely. I wasn't going to lose to a girl like Haruno Sakura. Sakura wasn't even from clan and she was already getting the upper hand in this battle. I was going to make sure that I would be the winner because Sakura doesn't even know how to any Ninjutsu.

That is, except Taijutsu. She knows how to kick and do Taijutsu, the question was: Can she keep up with me? No, she can't. This is what I told myself. I ran towards her with a kunai in my right hand and got ready to slash her.

Not only that, the flowers I shot her with, had paralysis in it. So, she was going to be paralyzed within 2 minutes because those flowers had a chemical that takes effect in 5 minutes.

When, I reached her, she was already paralyzed and she could no longer move even though she does chakra control.

Normal P.O.V 

Ino stood there, watching Sakura, struggle helplessly. She was completely immobilized and she couldn't even pick up a kunai from her kunai shooter. Ino said: "I suggest you surrender. I already sealed your fate."

Sakura refused to surrender although; she knew Ino was right; Ino's family or clan had an ability that involves plants or flowers. The announcer declared: "Winner Yamanaka Ino!"

Ino smiled and threw something towards Sakura, Sakura asked: "What is this?" Ino replied: "An antidote, I can't leave you frozen forever, Sakura. Don't worry, you just need more training." Ino winked and left Sakura, who was drinking the potion.

Sakura glared and said: "I'll defeat you someday, Ino. You will be the one to lose and I'll be the one to seal your fate." Then, Asuma Sarutobi looked at Kakashi and asked: "Isn't Haruno Sakura one of your students?"

Kakashi nodded and said to himself: "That's 2 loses. At least Katara won once for this team." Up next were Shikamaru and Chouji, 2 of Asuma Sarutobi's students. Chouji and Shikamaru said to each other: "May the best ninja win."

They both got onto the battle plate and got ready to fight. Once the announcer let out the signal, Chouji had cast: "Bubun Baika No Jutsu!"(Partial Multi Size Technique) He inflated himself and increased in size. Shikamaru, knowing that he wasn't match for Chouji in terms of size and strength he had to cancel the technique before Chouji rolls over him.

Shikamaru did a symbol and cast: "Kage Mane No Jutsu!" (The Art of Me and My Shadow) He sealed Chouji's shadow and connected it to his. Now, everything Shikamaru does, Chouji does it also and since he wasn't inflated, Chouji had to shrink.

Then, Shikamaru who was left hand thrower (I think) got 3 kunais and those weren't just kunais, they were enchanted. When they formed a triangle around Chouji, Chouji couldn't escape and Shikamaru threw a talisman that ignited all of the kunais and it burst in Chouji's face.

Sasuke, who was watching decided: "Shikamaru's gonna win." Naruto asked: "Yeah, how sure are you?" Katara answered: "The shadow binding techniques that the Nara Clan uses doesn't dispel until the user decides to and I don't think Shikamaru would want to."

Chouji struggled and then, Shikamaru asked: "What's the matter? Stuck?" Chouji said: "Obviously, Shikamaru!" Shikamaru smiled and he dispelled the jutsu. Katara wondered: "Why did he do that?"

Even Shikamaru's dad was shocked to see his son dispel the jutsu and he was already winning. Then, Chouji cast: "Chobaika No Jutsu!"(Butterfly Multi Sized technique) His chakra formed huge butterfly wings and he grew a lot thinner than usual and he rammed Shikamaru.

This time, Chouji was faster than Shikamaru, but that doesn't mean that Shikamaru was hopeless. Shikamaru may be a lazy bum (Sorry to Shikamaru and Shikamaru fans!) But he is gundamn smart! He's got an IQ of 200.

Shikamaru leaped up and shot kunais and left a trap bag that shot at Chouji and nearly killed him. Chouji's dad hit his forehead and shouted: "C'mon Chouji!" Chouji didn't get distracted by that; he was too busy looking for Shikamaru.

Shikamaru used the invisible jutsu technique luckily so he can think out a strategy. Shikamaru sat down in an Indian-sit position and he was concentrating. After all, being a player of shougi chess gave him an edge over Chouji.

Shikamaru said to himself: "How am I supposed to beat somebody that fast and he was once somebody who wore his forehead band like underwear on his head. Shikamaru sat down calculating and devising his plan as fast as he could because the jutsu he was using wouldn't last.

Then, he got an idea, he could use the Kage Nui no Jutsu or the Shadow Sewing Technique. Then, he could use the Kage Mane no Jutsu and make him do a little dance then, blow him up. But he will have to use technique killing talismans.

Shikamaru cast: "Suna no Yoroi." (Sand Armor, I know, another attack from Gaara, but he's got the most techniques) A big sand dome enshrouded Shikamaru and then, Shikamaru cast: "Suiro no Jutsu."(Water Prison, I know, from Zabuza but I don't know any of Shikamaru's techniques aside from Kage Nui, Kage Mane, etc.)

Shikamaru imprisoned Chouji and then cast: "Kage Nui No Jutsu." He sewed on Chouji's shadow to his then, Shikamaru cast: "Kage Mane No Jutsu!' He made Chouji do the chicken dance, but unfortunately he had to do it too.

Then, Shikamaru used technique canceling talismans and bombed Chouji. Finally, he broke of Chouji's attack and then, he was able to kick his butt now and the winner of the match was none other than Nara Shikamaru!

Announcer announced: "Winner: Nara Shikamaru!" His team went wild and Chouji congratulated him and Shikamaru's dad was more or less, proud of him. Shikamaru smiled and went up and got back to his everyday lazy bum attitude.

Shikamaru said: "Can we get towards the next match? I'm bored." Ino sighed and she knew she really couldn't expect much from a lazy bum like him. Shikamaru thought that almost everything was annoying and he really got bored very fast.

Asuma Sarutobi knew the same thing about Shikamaru; his clan consisted of the laziest of the laziest bums on the face of the planet. So, one rule in life, Shikamaru will only help if it's really an emergency but if it's nothing, he'll just stay a lazy bum unless I don't know, bribe him?

His dad didn't really care because that's how Shikamaru really is. One hell of a lazy bum and one heck of a useless idiot.

Next Match:

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Aburame Shino

Hyuuga Hinata vs. Tenten

Rock Lee vs. Chigusa Katara

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Inuzuka Kiba

Yamanaka Ino vs. Subaku no Gaara

Kankuro vs. Haruno Sakura

Hyuuga Neji vs. Akimichi Chouji

Aburame Shino vs. Tenten

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Subaku no Gaara

Rock Lee vs. Hyuuga Hinata

Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari

cloudstrife22793: Those are the next matches!

Sasuke: So, why am I going against Kiba?

cloudstrife22793: Because I'm the author?

Sasuke: Oh yeah.

Sakura: What kind of question was that, Sasuke?

Ino: Yeah! I won against SAKURA!

Sakura: Urgh! I'm going to get you next time!

cloudstrife22793: Oh well. By the way readers, reviews!


	9. The Strongest Will b the ones to Survive

cloudstrife22793: This is Chapter 9 of Shadow in the Dark!

Naruto: Alright! So, I'm the first match?

cloudstrife22793: Yup, you're against Shino, then, followed by Hinata and Ten Ten and then, Rock Lee and Katara.

Sasuke: Katara's going to win for sure.

cloudstrife22793: Sasuke, you're not the author so stop making predictions and you're not Dalai Llama!

Sakura: Tee-hee-hee-hee.

Hinata: (sighs)

Ino: Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Katara: (giggles softly)

Sasuke: (Anime sweat drop on forehead)

Temari: Who's doing the disclaimer?

Ino: I'll do it. The author doesn't own any of us except Katara.

Chapter 9- The Strongest Are the Only Ones to Survive!

The next match was between Shino and Naruto. A lot of people think that Shino might win because of his chakra eating bug known as kikai, but Naruto has a vast amount of chakra and it's going to take more than just kikai to get rid of Naruto.

Soon, the announcer gives off the signal and this gives Naruto a chance. Naruto puts his hands together and cast: "Tajukage Bunshin No Jutsu!"(Multiple Shadow Clone Technique) He multiplied into 12 and 3 dashed and cried out: "U!"

The next 4 cried out: "ZU!" Then, 2 punched him up into the air while shouting: "MA-KI!" Naruto leaped up and kicked him down and shouted: "NARUTO RENDAN!" When Shino landed down, he fell flat on his face, before Naruto could deal another blow he cast: "Mushi Kabe No Jutsu!"

In English, it means bug wall technique. Naruto crashed into the huge amount of bugs and Naruto hated bugs. Naruto shouted: "Get 'em of me!" Shino smirked and then did one Taijutsu: "The Rakanken" otherwise known as the Achiever of Nirvana Fist.

He punched so any times and then, dealt a hard blow with his destructive bugs. He was able to push Naruto back and not only that, he was able to get a bit of Naruto's chakra. But, Naruto didn't stop. He created a clone and his clone helped him create the rasengan.

Naruto ran towards Shino and cast: "RASENGAN!" He blew Shino back and Shino; boy did he have a problem with Naruto. Then, Shino wasn't really that, he was actually just a substitute Shino created to dodge Naruto's attack.

Then, Shino appeared and cast: "Mushi Bunshin No Jutsu!" (Bug Clone Technique) The bugs he had created a clone and that clone began beating up Naruto. Then, Shino did a jutsu that summoned a huge meteorite that were composed of the bugs and it hit Naruto, directly.

Shino smirked and said to himself: "No one can make it out alive. After all, those bugs can explode…" But, he was so wrong, Naruto leaped out of the pile of bugs and shouted: "Do you think a bunch of bugs can stop me? I don't think so!"

He cast with a bunch of his clones he created and they helped him cast the bigger version of the Rasengan, the Odama Rasengan. (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere) He ran towards Shino and slammed him so hard and sent Shino flying and he sure gave Shino a bad headache.

The referee declared: "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto leaped up and down while saying: "Yeah! I rock!" Sakura sighed and said: "Wow, do I suck or what?" Sasuke sighed and said: "This completely sucks, I train even more than him, yet, I lost!"

Then, the next match was declared, it was between Hinata and Tenten and mind you, Hinata is not small fry! Hinata, although she may be gentle but she be worse if she wants. Tenten is an arsenalist and she is great with weapons.

Tenten and Hinata stepped up into the plate and Tenten taunted: "You know, you being sweet and cute really won't get anywhere! You're a big disgrace to your cousin!" Hinata's anger flared up and Hinata murmured: "You have no idea how powerful I am."

When the referee sent out the signal, Tenten started an assault of Shurikens, then, Hinata did a taijutsu which can block all weapons. She cast: "Shugohakke Rokujyon Sho!"(Protection of the Eight Trigrams, sixty four palms)

Hinata's chakra dome sent all of Tenten's weapons back to her and Tenten leaped out of the way to get out of the range. Then, Hinata appeared behind her and cast: "Hakkesho Kaiten!" (Eight Trigrams Heavenly Spin) She spun and hit Tenten towards the ground.

Luckily, Tenten recovered and shot more shurikens, but Hinata dodged them and cast: "Byakuggan!"(White Eye) Hinata put a lot of chakra into her palms and hit Tenten repeatedly and declared: "Hakoryu no Tenbu!" (Hyuuga Final Combo)

She hit Tenten with towering force from her hands and then, blasted Tenten with a force of her chakra. Tenten landed flat on her butt. Then, Hinata walked over to her and said threateningly: "Next time, do not misjudge people for their looks."

This was a new Hinata, no one had ever seen her angry or vengeful. The regular Hinata was sweet, gentle, loving and naïve, this one was ruthless, mean, nasty and ready to kill. It was really not like Hinata. Naruto dropped his jaws and Neji's eyes were growing by the nanosecond.

Tenten got up and said: "One thing, is… you are not going to beat me." She whipped out some scrolls and cast: "Soshoryu!"(Twin Rising Dragon) Hinata however, since she was using Byakuggan, she saw right through it and figured a way how to beat it.

She leaped up and cast: "Shuriken Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"(Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique) She threw 2 shurikens that became 18 shurikens and it cut through Tenten's attacks like a hot knife through butter.

Then, Hinata went through the opening and gave Tenten a piece of her fist. She kicked, punched and sent Tenten down towards the floor. Then, Tenten kicked off the ground and hit Hinata but, Hinata blocked it and twisted her arm.

Then, Tenten kicked Hinata and tried to send her down, but instead, Hinata threw Tenten down and she kicked her back making her go down to the ground even faster. Tenten kissed the floor real hard and Hinata was declared victor of the match.

No one had ever seen Hinata fight so fiercely, it's like as if, she went through super-intense training that included abuse of the person. When she left the arena, she was back to her super sweet self again. The one personality everyone is used to.

Neji walked up to Hinata and asked: "What the heck was that about?" Hinata turned around and answered: "Eh… Um… Just wanted to kick butt, that's all." Neji was struck by her decision, he was wondering: "Now why would you want to do that?"

Then, Hinata said: "Look, the next match is starting!" She went to the arena and she left Neji alone in the hallway thinking: "How did she get that powerful if she didn't even master byakuggan that well? Oh boy, I'm in deep trouble now."

The next match was Katara's match. She was against Rock Lee. Rock Lee may have hardly learned any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu or whatsoever, but he's a taijutsu specialist. Katara however mastered all kinds of arts from, Kinjustu, Hijustu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu everything.

As usual, the referee let out the signal, then, Katara said before they started: "I won't use any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu; I will only use Taijutsu to make it fair for you." She leaped up and did the Hayabusa Otoshi or the Peregrine Falcon Drop.

She threw Rock Lee up and then, she got behind him and kicked him down. Rock Lee however was able to recover and did the Ura Renge or the Initial Lotus technique. He strained all his muscles and then, he kept on hitting Katara.

However, Katara didn't counter attack. She just blocked all his moves and dodged them. Kakashi wondered: "Why is she just dodging?" Sasuke wondered: "She could easily beat him by using Ninjutsu Techniques but she isn't using any, I wonder why."

Katara ducked and sweep kicked and made sure he couldn't get up because she had a follow-up attack and she scissor kicked Rock Lee. Rock Lee didn't have enough time to react coz Katara was so much faster than he is and she had more knowledge of the techniques more than he.

Katara kicked him so quickly and then, she did the Konoha senpu which was also known as the Konoha Hurricane and she kicked him up again and gave him even a more powerful attack than awhile ago.

But, there was one thing that she didn't expect, Lee began drinking sake, which is a kind of wine and he drank a whole bottle that was 1.5 liters. Katara was completely shocked and not only that, she hated it when people get drunk.

Lee got up and boy was he drunk. Then, Katara realized that, the only way to beat a suiken user is to wake him up but, it seemed impossible. Katara came up with an idea; she was left with no choice but to use Ninjutsu.

She leaped up and did a combination of seals and she cast: "Katon, Housenka No Jutsu!" (Fire Element, Phoenix Fire Technique) She blew fireballs and hid shaikens in them but she missed him by a few inches.

Katara snapped her fingers and she said to herself: "I better find a way to wake this guy up." Then, she realized that only one crazy technique could do the job. She put her hands together and cast: "HENGE!" (Morph)

Rock Lee stared at it queerly and what he saw made his nose bleed severely. Katara changed herself into a very sexy yet nude woman and she was doing a pose and this was something not for a child's eyes.

Naruto cried out: "Alright, she used my technique!" Sakura whopped Naruto on the head and sighed. Her inner self began saying: "Katara has gotten a few screws lose." Sasuke swat his forehead and covered his eyes.

Kakashi's nose began to bleed a bit, Neji had a hard time because his brain got disoriented, Ino wasn't sure what to think of her now, Chouji and Shikamaru hit each other, Hinata didn't seem to care and the others nearly went haywire.

Rock Lee on the other hand was completely unconscious after that nose bleed attack and when Katara changed back she apologized: "Gomenosai." (Sorry…) She was declared victor of this round and she left the field.

When she got to her friends, Naruto was so proud of having his technique being used, Sakura was trying to calm down Naruto and Sasuke was plugging his ears so he won't hear them bicker.

Kakashi went to her and put his hand on her shoulder and said: "You did well. But, next time… Never use that jutsu again." Katara smiled and laughed at herself. She said: "Uh… hehe…"

Then, Sasuke went to her and smiled at her. She slightly began to blush and she shrugged her shoulders and said: "I couldn't think of any other technique that couldn't hurt him."

Sasuke shook his head and said: "You know, I once did that technique and I had nightmares for days." Katara giggled and she leaned on Sasuke and Sasuke wrapped his arm around her.

Sakura saw this and told herself: "What the heck?" Her inner self was shouting: "Ooooh! That girl deserves to die!" Naruto looked at Sasuke and Katara who were watching the next match.

cloudstrife22793: Alright! That's chapter 9!

Sasuke: Okay… Katara won, Naruto won and strangely Hinata won.

Naruto: Yeah, Hinata was pretty weak the last time we met her.

cloudstrife22793: Oh well. Who cares about that?

Neji: I do! I don't wanna get beaten by a girl! Especially since I'm a jounin now!

cloudstrife22793: (sighs) Oh well. Anyway, please don't forget, reviews!


	10. The Best of The Best

cloudstrife22793: This is Chapter 10 for Naruto!

Shikamaru: So, who's the next match?

cloudstrife22793: Why, it would be—wait a minute how'd you get here?

Shikamaru: I simply followed Sakura and Sasuke all the way here.

Sakura: But I didn't see anything.

Sasuke: I should've locked the door outside.

cloudstrife22793: Never mind, the next 3 matches are Sasuke and Kiba, Ino and Gaara and Sakura and Kankuro! By the way, disclaimer!

Shikamaru: cloudstrife22793 doesn't own any of us except—

Katara: ME! Katara Chigusa and my whole clan.

cloudstrife22793: Alright! On with the story…

Chapter 10- The Best of the Best

The first match was Sasuke versus Kiba and Kakashi was going to make sure that Sasuke was going to win. Kakashi led Sasuke to the place where he first trained with the team and said: "You have to win this match, Sasuke. Or else, you're eliminated."

Sasuke whispered to himself: "I know that. And this time, I will win!" Kakashi drew his kunai and said: "Let's begin." Sasuke dew his kunai and charged at Kakashi. Kakashi whispered: "You're not going to win that way, that's for sure."

But, then, Sasuke surprised Kakashi by feinting twice then, he was able to activate his Sharingan and hit Kakashi with full force. Sasuke did a couple of hand seals and cast: "Katon: Housenka No Jutsu!" He shot fireballs out of his mouth and hid a secondary attack of shurikens and kunais.

Kakashi pretended to get hit but he actually used the substitute technique to evade Sasuke. When Sasuke finished his assault, Kakashi came up behind him and tried to hit Sasuke. Then, Sasuke turned around and tried kicking Kakashi.

Kakashi ducked and tried to do the "super powerful ass poke" or Sennen Goroshi on Sasuke which didn't work unfortunately. Sasuke leaped up and cast: "Katon Goukakyo No Jutsu!" He blew a huge fire ball towards Kakashi but Kakashi disappeared and tried to bury Sasuke in the same pit he used against him.

Sasuke smirked and said: "That was a pretty stupid move." But then, Kakashi appeared behind him and said: "Never underestimate your opponents, Sasuke. Even though I thought a child from the Uchiha clan can beat me." Sasuke quickly kicked Kakashi up into the air and the Shi Shi Rendan.

In English, it means the Lion Combo. This move was made after Sasuke watched Rock Lee do the Omote Renge or Initial Lotus with his Sharingan. Kakashi however was able to grab Sasuke's leg and toss him down pretty hard.

Luckily, Sasuke recovered and he sprinted off again to hit Kakashi with everything he had. He cast: "CHIDORI!" He ran towards Kakashi and attempted to hit him. Unfortunately, Kakashi managed to stop Sasuke's attack by just grabbing his arm.

Sasuke snapped at himself: "DAMN IT!" He twisted and tried to kick Kakashi with his left leg, then his right. This left Sasuke's left arm open to attack with Chidori because Kakashi was busy with the other attacks done by Sasuke.

Sasuke snickered and said: "Look out." Kakashi looked down and Sasuke's Chidori sent him flying. At least Sasuke was able to get at least one hit at him. Kakashi said: "Well, do you think you're ready?" Sasuke got up after his attack and replied: "Oh, yeah."

When they arrived at the arena, Kiba was already there, who was pretty impatient and said: "Come on, slowpoke! You took years to come here!" Sasuke gave him a death glare and got ready to face Kiba.

When the match started, Kiba immediately cast: "Kinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro!"(Man Beast Combination Transformation: Double Headed Wolf) Kiba and Akamaru became a huge two headed wolf and lunged at Sasuke.

Sasuke expected it and side stepped from Kiba's attack. Then, Sasuke quickly opened his Sharingan again and went after Kiba and this time, he knew how to break the technique. Sasuke did a few hand seals and cast: "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Element, Art of the Phoenix Flower)

He blew out fireballs and hidden in them were kunais that Sasuke inserted without Kiba noticing. When Kiba turned around, he had very slow reaction time and he got a direct hit from both attacks. Kiba, realizing he couldn't beat Sasuke in this form changed back.

Kiba and Akamaru charged together and then, they did the Gatsuga Technique and tried to pummel him through means of using a tornado created by both of them. Sasuke leaped up and tried to land a blow on Kiba, if he knew which was which.

Then, he didn't have enough time coz Kiba pummeled straight up for Sasuke and hit him towards the wall. Sasuke hit the wall so hard that there was already a crack in it with a big hole due to the pressure. Sasuke gasped for air and thought: "I need to find a way to break that jutsu. Even though it's taijutsu and my Sharingan is activated why can't I copy or break the jutsu?"

Kiba taunted: "Hey, what's the matter, Sasuke? Tired already?" Sasuke didn't give up and cast: "Katon: Ryuuka No Jutsu!" (Fire Element: Dragon Fire Technique) He was able to send out a small stream line of fire and shoot it at Kiba's feet.

The point of Sasuke doing that was to let Kiba be open for the Chidori technique which Sasuke improved himself and was taught to him by Kakashi. Kiba coughed and shouted: "Where did he go?"

Then, he heard something sound like birds were chirping and no, they weren't birds from outside. It was the Chidori, a very powerful technique that requires a huge amount of chakra, which becomes visible around the user's hand. Once the hand has been charged, it is then thrust straight through the target.

The technique can only be safely attempted by a ninja with the Sharingan or a similar countermeasure to defenses and attacks. Chidori is said to be the only original technique of Hatake Kakashi, who is also one of only two known users, the other being Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha Itachi is theoretically also capable of performing the Chidori, as he was watching Uchiha Sasuke with his Sharingan activated when Sasuke failed to kill him with the technique.

Although it produces a distinctive sound and is by no means stealthy, Chidori has nonetheless been classified as an assassination technique due to the incredible speed it requires and the devastating effect of a successful execution.

The name Chidori comes from the sound the technique makes, which is said to remind the listener of the chirping produced by a thousand birds. Because of the high amount of chakra it requires, a ninja can only use Chidori a certain number of times per day. Usage surpassing the limited number of the user could either paralyze them (which happened once in Sasuke's case), or even kill the user.

Sasuke was able to deal an effective strike and hit Kiba. This earned Sasuke the match. The announcer declared: "Winner: Uchiha Sasuke!" The girls went wild and they were extremely going haywire. Kakashi smiled at Sasuke's triumph and Sakura was rooting him on.

Naruto, as usual was pouting at Sasuke's success and Katara, well, she just remained quiet. When Sasuke went back to his team, the first one he approached was Katara, who seemed a bit disturbed or worried.

Sasuke asked: "Are you okay?" Katara turned around and replied: "I'm fine,it's just…" Sasuke asked: "Just what?" Katara said: "I don't know, I have this strange feeling that there is a malicious presence here." Sasuke said: "Well, just don't mind it, nothing's happened yet."

Katara nodded and went on to watch the next match. The next match was between Gaara and Ino. Gaara was a lot more powerful thanks to Shukaku but Ino was faster. Even though she's weak, she still can out run Gaara.

As the signal was sounded, Gaara started spurting out sand from the ground. He just kept making his hand into fists and sand exploded right in front of Ino. Ino, however didn't give up, she cast a ninjutsu and cast: "Bara Kei!" (Rose Whip)

She unveiled her rose whip in a smooth motion and snapped it at Gaara's feet intending to make him lose his balance. But then, Gaara did a coulpe of hand seals and cast: "Sabaku Fuyu!"(Desert Suspension Technique) He used the gourd on his back and floated up.

Ino smirked and said: "Not bad, but I suggest you get down from there." She made a rectangular seal and cast: "Shinranshin No Jutsu!"(Mind Body Disturbance Technique) That means, Gaara was conscious but he couldn't control his body.

Ino made him stand there and she ran towards and casting: "Flora Bunshin No Jutsu!" (Flower Clone Technique) and then she charged at him doing the Jyuuroku Rendan (16 Hit Combo) with her clone and then, followed by one crushing hit done by both, the shote ha or palm crush.

Gaara was thrown back but he didn't stop, he wasn't willing to break her arms and legs though but he was willing to hit her with his Suna Bunshin No Jutsu. By creating a sand clone of himself, he and his clone cast: "Suna Shigure!"(Sand Drizzle)

He cast a large amount of sand rain and buried Ino under. Then, to end it simply without hurtingher, he just cast: "Sabakuro No Jutsu." Sand Prison Technique) The announcer declared Gaara as winner of that match.

Katara was impressed by Gaara's power and she was wondering how to beat him if she ever faced him. Ino left the field and sadly said: "I lost." Her dad said: "Well, don't worry, you have one win, all you need is another one to get to the next round."

Ino smiled at her dad as they continued to watch the fight. The next match was between Kankuro and Sakura, although Kankuro may know Ninjutsu better than Sakura, Sakura has greater intelligence than him.

Kankuro cast: "Kugutsu no Jutsu!" He summoned his puppet and began attacking Sakura. He commanded: "Karasu! Kuroari!" He dew his fingers in certain positions and the puppets attacked her savagely.

Sakura drew back and quickly began shooting kunais to draw them away and give her way to attack Kankuro directly. But the puppets were attacking her from every angle and all she could do was run. Every time she would get near Kankuro, one of his puppets would hit her.

Sakura threw a bag that was filled with talismans and threw it towards Kankuro. She said: "If you can't hit near, might as well hit far range!" She cut the bag open with her kunai and Kankuro was unaware of what it was.

Toh im, it was cherry blossom petals, to Sakura, it was exploding talismans. Then, she got a kunai that acted like a detonator and blew up all talismans at Kankuro's face. This is where she took advantage of the smoke and attacked Kankuro.

She cast: "Bunshin no Jutsu!" She attacked with her clone and dealed the most damage as she could but she couldn't do it very well because of Kankuro flailing his puppets around because he was blinded by the smoke.

Sasuke said: "Sakura has no chance, even though she blinds Kankuro." Katara said: "Well, don't get disheartened, maybe she might have a trick to pull the victory." But, Katara was wrong, Sakura lost humiliatingly to Kankuro because of his barage of pupets.

Sakura moaned: "Darn it!" Sakura left the field and the Sunakagure team were rejoicing for their brother's victory. The next match was left dangling, who will be the winners and only the best of the best can go to the next round.

Sakura sighed: "I'm sooo sory, guys. I couldn't handle all his puppets." Naruto said: "It's okay. Not everyone can just handle Kankuro." Sakura said: "That means I'm eliminated, right?" Katara said: "Don't worry, I'll help you. We can train together if you want."

Sakura smiled and said to herself: "This girl ain't so bad after all. Maybe that's why Sasuke likes her more than me." Her inner self thought the same thing and then, they all left for the training area to improve Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and of course, Katara.

cloudstrife22793: That's chapter 10 for you!

Sakura: Aww, I lost! That's twice already!

Naruto: Yeah. Who's going to move on to the next round?

cloudstrife22793: You'll find out sooner or later.

Sasuke: I better pass. If I lose to Naruto, I'm going to regret it all my life.

cloudstrife22793: Don't worry, you won't.. Not with all the fans out there shouting: Beat Naruto, Sasuke!

Sasuke: Pfft… I guess.

Don't forget the REVIEWS, readers!


	11. The Final Eliminations

cloudstrife22793: Okay these are the next matches! After this, is the true competition!

Sakura: So, who's going against whom?

cloudstrife22793: Gaara against Naruto, Neji against Chouji and Shino versus Ten-Ten!

Sasuke: That's it?

cloudstrife22793: Nope, there are 5 more! I just sorta forgot.

Sasuke: Never mind.

Naruto asked: Well, shall we start?

cloudstrife22793: Not unless someone does a disclaimer!

Sakura: The author doesn't own any of us except Katara and the whole Chigusa Clan.

cloudstrife22793: Now, I remember, the next 4 are Rock Lee against Hinata and Shikamaru versus Temari, Sasuke versus Kiba, Ino versus Temari, Gaara versus Ten-Ten and Shikamaru against Kankuro!

Chapter 11- The Final Eliminations

The next match was between Gaara and Naruto, like before when Naruto had to face Gaara in Shukaku form. However, this time was different; Gaara wasn't a crazed madman anymore. He was simply normal after his sister gave him good training back at their village.

Gaara smirked and Naruto asked: "Ya ready?" They looked at each other with straight eye contact and got ready to go against each other. When the referee gave the signal, Naruto as usual charged at Gaara.

Gaara smiled and used the Sabaku Fuyu or the Desert Suspension. He floated and dodged Naruto's attack and this was annoying to Naruto. Naruto is quite easy to understand, if he doesn't succeed he usually complains and that's exactly what he did.

He shouted: "KUSO!" (DAMN IT!) He skidded and went towards Gaara again and this time, he cast: "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique) 6 of them lunged at Gaara with kunais.

However, Gaara seemed unfazed by Naruto's clone not knowing that Naruto held back one clone to help him in charging the Odama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere) Gaara cast: "Satetsu Shigure." (Iron Sand Drizzle)

Sand, as hard as iron was summoned by Gaara and Gaara easily destroyed all the clones, but from the dust came Naruto all ready to pummel him down. Naruto declared his final attack: "Odama Rasengan!"

He hit Gaara hard and made sure he made a big hole in the wall. Gaara flew towards the wall but he was able to create one more version of him using the Suna Bunshin no Jutsu, otherwise known as the Sand Clone.

The clone attacked Naruto while it gave Gaara time to recover and complete a complicated technique. When he bided enough time, the clone disappeared and Gaara cast: "Sabaku Kyu no Jutsu!" (Sand Coffin Technique)

Gaara always used this technique in combination of the Sabaku Soso, or the Imploding Sand Funeral. He tried crushing Naruto with the iron sand he used after the Satetsu Shigure. But Naruto, by using his overwhelming amount of chakra broke free and actually beat Gaara, again.

Gaara sadly lost to Naruto due to Naruto's sheer luck and sudden burst of energy. However, Gaara gladly accepted defeat and vowed to try beating Naruto in the next round. The next match was between Neji and Chouji, and people thought that Chouji might win this time.

The signal was sent up and the match started. Neji started by turning on his Byakuggan and charging up his chakra. He saw the chakra flow points and tried to find a way how to hit them. Chouji started his defense by Bubun Baika No Jutsu. (Partial Multi Sized Technique)

He then used one of the techniques known as the Human Juggernaut or the Nikudan Sensha. He leaped into the air and tried crushing Neji. Neji luckily did the Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Heavenly Spin) and blocked Chouji's squashing attempt.

Chouji bounced off and shrunk himself. Then, he did his mighty chakra technique called the Butterfly Multi Sized Technique or the Chobaika no Jutsu. He grew a huge pair of chakra butterfly wings and charged at Neji.

He was a lot faster now and apparently, Neji was having a hard time keeping up with him coz he was punched towards the floor and there was this big hole where Neji was in. Neji moaned to himself: "If I don't do anything, I'll be Japanese pancakes before you know it."

He got up and used the Hakke Rokujyon Sho, or the Eight Trigrams 64 palms. He punched Chouji so many times and he was using Byakuggan and that made things worse for Chouji. Chouji was losing so much of his chakra due to Neji's rapid assault.

His butterfly wings vanished and he hit the wall, then, Neji kicked him up to the air and hit him violently with his fists with the same attack. Sasuke, who was watching said: "He's gonna win, that's for sure."

Katara nodded and said: "He's a worthy opponent; I do hope I face him so I'll learn how to be stronger." Sasuke looked at her after her remark and asked himself: "Why would she need to be stronger if she's strong enough to destroy somebody and even beat Orochimaru?"

Sakura knew that Sasuke was observing the fight. She knew that Neji is going to move to the next round for sure. Kakashi murmured: "Hyuuga Neji… That boy may not be part of the Main House of the Hyuuga but, look how powerful he is…"

He watched Neji totalize Chouji and knock him out. Neji was once again declared winner and this assured him that he would move onto the next set. He could lose the next round if he wants but, I don't think he's going to take that as an option.

Asuma was shocked that Chouji had lost even though Neji wasn't using his fullest potential, Maito Gai smiled at his student's success, and he wanted to say: "That's my student." But, he bit his lip to stop himself.

After that was Shino and Ten-ten. They were 2 students who were extremely smart. Ten-ten unsheathed her staff and Shino had his bugs crawling to quickly absorb Ten-ten's chakra.

As the referee gave the signal, Ten-ten was the first one to strike; she brought out all her weapons and intended to bring Shino down in a few minutes. Shino quickly made the bug wall technique and blocked all her attacks.

When her attacks were blocked, he sent his bugs to bring Ten-ten's chakra to a limit in where she'll be forced to use taijutsu. He made his bugs surround Ten-ten and feed on her chakra as he began attacking her with everything else.

But, as he finished his assault, Ten-ten was no where to be found. All that was left was a log and shurikens and blast marks there. Then, he heard someone cast: "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!"

He saw nine shurikens coming straight at him and he was pinned down and she hit him with her staff and used other weapons and hit Shino real hard. Then, her final attack was, she spun up with scrolls surrounding her like a tornado and inside were spike balls.

She used almost every single bit of her chakra she had left and she hit Shino with it and knocked Shino towards the wall and she was declared as the winner.

A little while later, Katara and Sasuke were outside practicing with Sakura and Naruto. Although Naruto was tired, Katara was able to persuade him in training with them.

Kakashi gave them a little drill, they had to at least all get one hit at him and they all knew it wasn't that easy especially for genins like them. Naruto gave it a shot by using the Kage Bunshin Technique, Sasuke tried using the Katon Houkoeda combined with the Katon Goukkakyuu.

Meaning he made the great fireball technique even more lethal by multiplying them using the fire spray technique. He even hid shurikens in them. Then, they all hit Kakashi directly but it didn't work unfortunately becoz Sasuke got stuck in the hole and Naruto got his butt poked, bad.

Sakura was next to try so she used the Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu or the Sakura Blizzard Technique. She threw bags filled with talismans and she tried igniting it. When all talismans ignited, Kakashi was able to get out of the big mass explosion.

He got behind her and tied her to the tree and told her: "You should be more careful." He turned around and told all of them: "I'm very disappointed in you. You kids aren't going to win unless you come and hit me."

Then, unexpectedly, Katara came from behind and cast: "Hyoton: Kokuryubo Boufuusetsu!" (Black Dragon Blizzard) She did dragon, tiger, rat and then the horse hand seal and summoned a black dragon from her arm and sent Kakashi flying.

But this didn't stop her, she had an aerial attack plan and then she leaped up and copied Sasuke's attack and cast: "Katon Housenka!" (Fire Element Phoenix Fire technique) She shot fire balls and hidden inside were shurikens.

Then, she used Mizu Yari no Jutsu (Water Spear Technique), although she is only a Genin she has enough power of a senin. She shot it towards Kakashi and gashed his arm and when it struck the ground it became water. But this wasn't her last attack she had one more.

The one that Momochi Zabuza used, she did the hand seals and then cast while in mid-air: "Suiton, Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" (Water Element, Water Dragon Bullet Skill) She blasted Kakashi real hard and she gave the others a chance to hit him.

Sasuke, who finally got out cast: "Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Element, Dragon Fire Skill) He was surrounded by fire and then from that came a powerful beam of fire. He blasted Kakashi but Kakashi replaced himself with a log again.

Then, Sakura came from behind and she started nailing Kakashi, she did so by using her Bunshin technique and slashed Kakashi with high speed attacks. However, Kakashi expected that and he knew which the real Sakura was, he shot out simple shurikens and they all exploded.

Leaving no trace of the real Sakura, Kakashi was surprised that Sakura only made the clones attack him. But those clones were composed of exploding talismans which Sakura chose to ignite when Sasuke uses his fire technique.

Then, as if Sasuke read her thoughts, he used the Katon Houkoeda and combined it with the Katon Goukkakyuu and it grew larger and larger until it looked like huge meteors plummeting to the earth. Kakashi saw this and leaped out of the way and Sakura was able to cage him using the talismans.

Kakashi substituted again and this got the whole team flustered. Naruto shouted: "All he's doing is evading!" Katara knew what his next move was; he was going to try hallucinating them with one of his Genjutsu techniques.

He used the very same one he used on Sakura. He did the rat seal and he hallucinated Sakura and Naruto, however, Sasuke, having to earned Sharingan already got out of the illusion and Katara was able to break it by slashing her hand.

Kakashi then, charged up his chakra and aimed it at Katara, he used Raikiri or Thunder-Cut or Lightning Edge and he charged straight at her. Somehow, Katara was able to just grab his arm and twist it right behind him leaving Kakashi to open for an attack.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto who got out of the illusion took that opportunity and did their most powerful attacks. Actually, Naruto didn't need to attack, if you wanna know why it's because all he did was the Harem no Jutsu and seduced Kakashi.

Then, Sakura used her Bunshin technique and hit Kakashi and Sasuke used the Katon Goukkakyuu and he lit up the talismans hidden in the clone and it blew up right in front of Kakashi. To them, that was really him, but in truth, that was a clone he created.

It vanished and then, this made them even more flustered. Katara was left with no other choice; using the single jutsu seals from her clan she unlocked one of her most lethal techniques. Hijutsu: Magen Kokoryubo. (Secret Technique: Demonic Black Dragon)

The dragon burst free from her jutsu and searched for Kakashi and found him in no time. The dragon destroyed everything in its way and it found Kakashi among the trees. Kakashi tried eliminating it but he couldn't, her chakra was like Naruto's except more overwhelming.

Katara cancelled the technique and Kakashi said: "You all passed, I'm pretty impressed that you worked as a team, unlike before. Although I noticed something …"

Sakura asked: "What is it?" Kakashi said: "You're relying too much on Katara and Sasuke. Every time you create an attack you always wait for one of them to at least trigger it for you." Sasuke said bluntly: "Well, at least we did a better job than they did."

Upon hearing that, Naruto and Sasuke began to bicker again and Sakura was staring at them and trying to stop Naruto from going haywire and Katara giggled, it looked so funny when Sasuke and Naruto would bicker.

Kakashi smiled at them and said to himself: "At least they've done better than any of their recent battles." He looked at Katara and added quietly: "I'm most definitely impressed with Katara, she used to be a bit reckless but now, she looks at the consequences before she even strikes."

Then, he said: "Alright, let's head back." They headed back to the stadium where all the other students were watching the other 2 matches. The first one was Hinata versus Rock Lee. Rock Lee was natural born taijutsu user and same with Hinata.

But, Hinata knew how to harness her chakra and make her attacks more lethal. On the other hand, Rock Lee uses the Goken style or Strong fist style when he fights. It's when he puts all the strain into his muscles.

Hinata had the determination to impress Naruto while Rock Lee wanted to impress Sakura. So, when the match started, Rock Lee had charged first and tried to whack Hinata hard. Hinata quickly leaped and got behind him and split kicked his back, he was hit hard then, she recovered and punched him a lot more.

Her final blow was she put all the chakra into her palms and blew Rock Lee away. After he was blown away, Hinata had time to open her byakuggan and she analyzed all his chakra flow points.

When she went towards him, Lee did the Kage Buyo (Shadow of the Dancing Leaves) and Omote Renge (Frontal Lotus), he put all the strains in his muscles and kicked Hinata violently in the air, although he knew this was a forbidden taijutsu, he still did it anyway. He got under her and then he unleashed his bandages and piledrived her into the ground with a lot of force.

Hinata hit the floor extremely hard and created a crater. She didn't stop there much to Rock Lee's dismay; she was just getting warmed up because she put chakra in her hands and began using it with byakuggan.

She dealt so much damage to Rock Lee and in combination to Hakkourou Tenbu, she used her Shugo Hakke Rokujyon Sho (Protection of the eight trigrams sixty-four palms) which is something like the Kaiten but it had longer range and had more damage apparently.

Rock Lee was tossed hard and he hit the floor and he landed in the crater, he used his shurikens in attempt to shoot her. But there was something she did that Neji never knew, she spun with all her chakra molding into a dome and the kunais were disintegrated and she stood there on another crater.

To Neji's surprise, she just did the Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Heavenly Spin) without even trying. The last time she did it was awhile ago but it didn't seem strong, this one however was different. All he knew was that, she never learned much from the Main House and never mastered any of the techniques except Byakuggan.

She won the match due to Rock Lee's fatigue after he used the Omote Renge and Kage Buyo. Kurenai, her instructor was impressed that her hard work paid off. Neji stood there with his big white eyes growing bigger by the second.

Maito Gai couldn't believe that Rock Lee was beaten by Hinata. Hinata was naturally someone who wouldn't fight very much and Rock Lee just did a very powerful technique and a forbidden one too, and she looked like it didn't even hurt.

When she got back, that's when she realized that she now had a splitting headache from Rock Lee. Kiba when he saw her laughed and said: "Well, that's the side effect after you win against Rock Lee." Hinata glared at him and he knew getting her mad isn't an option.

The next match was Shikamaru and Temari, although they liked each other, that doesn't mean they'll hold back in a fight. Shikamaru and Temari started their assault with kunais and shurikens.

Then, Shikamaru cast: "Kage Mane no Jutsu!" (The Art of Me and My Shadow) He sewed on his shadow to Temari. Then, Temari wasn't able to move. Shikamaru cast another technique: "Kage… Kubi Shibari no Jutsu!" (Shadow Neck Binding Technique)

He tried to choke Temari but she was able to break free from the Kage Mane no Jutsu on time and escape. Then, she had a chance to cast: "Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" (Great Whirlwind Technique)

She blew Shikamaru away but he tried to resist. Temari didn't let him however, she simply cast another wind technique: Futon Daitoppa no Jutsu. She brought her hand to her mouth and blew out a strong wind.

She blew Shikamaru away and used the wind to speed up her kunais and shurikens. Shikamaru was badly hit. He hit the floor, defenseless against all of Temari's other wind attacks especially her summoning technique which would summon a squirrel w/ a scythe.

So, in result, Shikamaru lost. That was the 6th to the last round. The 5th round was between Ten-Ten and Shino. Ten-Ten whipped out her scrolls and Shino had bugs crawling on his body.

This grossed out Ten-Ten but that didn't stop her. She decided to hit him using long range attacks. She let out her scrolls as they rolled on the floor, what was surprising was the fact that when her scrolls rolled out, spears and every sharp object you could think of appeared from it.

It began hitting Shino rapidly and he landed on the other side. He leaped up as high as he could as he sent his bugs to crawl around Ten-Ten. This really sent shivers up her spine and he squeezed her with the bugs.

Then, unknown to him, she summoned her most powerful Ninjutsu which was Soshoryu or in other words the Twin Rising Dragons. She struggled free from his bug constricting technique and she was able to defeat him by using all her weaponry and all her chakra to guide the weapons.

The 4th to the last match was Sasuke against Kiba. This time, Sasuke was ready, even though he had lost one round; he still had a chance at it. So when the match started, the first thing that Kiba and Akamaru did was Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro (Man Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf).

They quickly charged at Sasuke and did the Garoga Technique which made Kiba and Akamaru do a beast-like attack. They formed themselves into a tornado and charged at Sasuke.

Sasuke expected it and he leaped up before they could even get another inch closer to him. After that, he used the Katon Houkoeda combined with the Katon Goukkakyuu no Jutsu. Meaning, he used the Fire Spray technique combined with the Grand Fireball technique.

The result was it looked like big giant meteors plunging towards the earth; this blew up the area where both Kiba and Akamaru were. When Sasuke landed, Kiba's dog tried to spray its pee on his face.

Sasuke was distracted long enough and Kiba hit him hard on the face. Sasuke staggered back and Kiba and Akamaru attempted to do the Garoga meaning Double Wolf Fang which was more powerful than the Gatsuga, the Double Piercing Wolf Fang.

Sasuke was able to undaze himself on time and he used the Substitution Skill and substituted him with a log. As they hit it and they both stopped, this gave Sasuke his fighting chance, he hid kunais in this attack as he cast: "Katon, Housenka no Jutsu!" (Art of the Phoenix Flower)

He shot them straight at Kiba and Kiba and Akamaru lost due to fatigue and loss of chakra. So, Sasuke was permitted to move on to the next round.

The 3rd last was Ino versus Temari. Ino had a big chance of winning but Temari was going to make sure she was going to pass. Ino quickly did Shinranshin no Jutsu and froze Temari completely.

Then, Ino quickly charged at Temari and gave her a good whack and sent her flying. However, Temari quickly unsheathed her fan and began using it as an air glider. Ino smiled and shot poison darts and tried striking Temari down.

She hit the air glider and knocked Temari off-balance and she went crashing down on the floor. As she crashed down, Ino was getting ready to strike Temari with full force. She used the Jyuuroku Rendan and swept Temari off and she had a good crash on the floor.

As Temari got up, she quickly swung her fan and sent a big gust going for Ino and she flew to the other side of the battle arena. Ino skidded and quickly recovered and she attempted to charge again.

This time, Ino unfurled a rose whip and swung it towards Temari. She snapped it at Temari's feet and made her stumble back. Temari was surprised that Ino would reveal and use such a weapon as she whirled it and spun in circles.

She created a tornado and used the whip as a shield by balancing on one foot pointed and thorns were launched everywhere. Temari used her fan to block all thorns but they punctured her fan and nearly hit her eyes.

While using that as a diversion, Ino went behind Temari and gave her a seven-point hit at Temari and knocked her out, bad. Ino made up for her first loss and she was able to move on to the next round.

The 2nd to the last was between, Gaara and Ten-ten. As the match started, Gaara decided to give her a head start. He was just going to let himself get hit a bit until he was sure, he could easily eliminate her.

Ten-ten did every technique she knew, the Bunshin, Soshoryu etc. She made sure that nobody would have the resistance to live after that attack. But, much to her unluckiness, Gaara casted the Suna no Tate (Sand Shield) to block all her techniques.

Then, it was his turn to launch an assault. He did hand seals and sealed Ten-ten in his favorite technique, the Sabaku Kyu. She was inside but, he refused to use the Sabaku Soso, thus he would end up hurting her too much in the process.

So, he simply cast: "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu." He created 5 clones of himself and then he created from the sand clones big mounds of sand and cast: "Satetsu Shigure!" (Iron Sand Rain)

He smashed her with these and she instantly lost to Gaara due to forfeiting since he was too strong to overcome. Katara, who was watching with awe said: "He looks so strong, I mean, he didn't even need to be in a desert to use his techniques."

Sasuke replied: "He doesn't need to. You see the gourd on his back; he puts a lot of sand inside." Katara replied a soft "oh" and she looked at the next match. She asked Sakura: "Don't you think this might be exciting once we move to the next round?"

Sakura nodded and said sadly: "But I won't be moving on, I'm already eliminated." Katara cheered her up by saying: "It's alright, it doesn't really matter. Being able to enter is already an achievement. Winning it is just to make you feel better."

Sakura smiled at Katara as she asked: "Uh-huh and can you do me a favor?" Katara asked: "Yeah, sure. What is it?" Sakura asked: "Don't you think that Naruto might be a great ninja someday? Answer me, honestly."

Katara replied: "He will. He just needs to know what's right and what's wrong. That's all. Also, he might need somebody to support him and I think you're just the person." Sakura smiled at Katara's opinion and she knew Katara answered her honestly.

The last was between Shikamaru and Kankuro. Kankuro may be a good puppeteer but Shikamaru was better. He can easily control all of Kankuro's movements by simply using the Kage Mane no Jutsu and that's exactly with what happened.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu!" (The Art of Me and My Shadow)

Kankuro was completely immobilized and Shikamaru kept him frozen as long as 5 minutes. Then, when Shikamaru lifted his arm, Kankuro took the opportunity to quickly unleash some chakra strings and was able to command his puppet to hit Shikamaru.

This forced Shikamaru to dispel the technique. As he dispelled it, Kankuro made his two puppets chase after him like a dog chasing a cat. Kankuro suddenly was able to release some kunais that shot out like torpedoes heading for Shikamaru.

As the kunais shot straight at him, Shikamaru quickly used the escaping technique to avoid the kunais and be able to go behind him and lay a couple of traps that will trigger one after the other.

Then, Shikamaru attempted to do the Kage Mane no Jutsu again, this time; he made Kankuro step backwards and step on a trap. As he stepped on it, kunais were flung everywhere and they triggered all of Shikamaru's other traps.

Kunais, shurikens and other ninja weapons began flying and then, the finale was the Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu. The Shadow Neck Binding Technique. Shikamaru used his shadow to make a creeping hand crawl up Kankuro's neck and strangle him.

Although it was possible to break it, Kankuro needed more chakra to break Shikamaru's technique. He used almost every bit of his chakra to push it down but, it was rendered hopeless. So, the result was Shikamaru as the winner.

The next day they posted the ones who passed:

Chigusa, Katara

Hyuuga, Neji

Hyuuga, Hinata

Ten-Ten

Nara Shikamaru

Sabaku no Gaara

Temari

Uchiha Sasuke

Uzumaki Naruto

Yamanaka Ino

cloudstrife22793: That's all, for now…

Naruto: Yay! I passed!

Sakura: Awww…

Sasuke: Hn. This will be easy.

Katara: Don't get too confident Sasuke!

Kakashi: She does have a point. You realized you nearly lost.

Sasuke: Did you have to remind me?

cloudstrife22793: Well, anyway! Reviews!


	12. The Real Battle

cloudstrife22793: Chapter 12, here it comes! Ready or not!

Naruto: Yay! Who's first? I wanna be first! MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Sasuke: Pfft… you won't be first in the way how noisy you are.

Naruto: Oh yeah? Wanna bet?

Sasuke: You bet I can.

(Sasuke and Naruto begin to bicker)

Sakura: (hand on forehead) When will they ever stop?

Katara: Beats me.

cloudstrife22793: Anyway, please do a disclaimer.

Katara: The author doesn't own any of the Naruto characters but me and the Chigusa Clan.

cloudstrife22793: Okay, now, on with the story.

Chapter 12- The Real Battle

After having the preliminary rounds, they already selected the people who are going to move on to the next round. First was Katara, she won without any losses, Hyuga Neji, another one who also didn't lose any round.

Surprisingly, Hyuga Hinata made it, since she was known to be not too strong but weaker than the other students. Another one is Temari, a chuunin or a 2nd level ninja of the sand village made it as well.

Also, Gaara, a genin from the sand village, passed. Well, it would be sort of weird if he wouldn't because he has Shukaku to aid him in battle. Next was Yamanaka Ino, a chuunin and also one of the strongest female ninjas.

Then, of course, the champion, Uchiha Sasuke passed even though he lost once. Also, Naruto passed and thanks to his high powered chakra and his good imagination of seducing people, driving them crazy and others.

Then, another one was Nara Shikamaru who was a lazy bum but had an IQ over 200. Finally, the last one was Ten-Ten, the weapon specialist. The first match was between Ten-Ten and Temari.

The rules from here on were simple. You beat them, you get to move on. You lose, you're eliminated. The matches didn't start until 4:00 in the afternoon. They schedule battles everyday and some are even put on different days.

The first 2 were Temari versus Ten-Ten and the match after were between Katara and Gaara. To Temari and Ten-Ten, fighting each other again must've been a coincidence or someone wanted to let Ten-Ten have her revenge.

Katara and Gaara however are evenly matched, they are both hosts of a bijou and they were both terrifyingly powerful. Although Gaara wasn't as fast as Katara, he was very powerful when it came to long reach attacks and defenses.

Katara was powerful in all ways, defensive, offensive, melee and range. But, there was only a slight possibility that she can't break Gaara's defensive attacks like Suna no Tate and Suna no Yoroi.

As the teams left the area and went off to train. Kakashi brought them to the forest to practice chakra control. This was quite weird to Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke since they've practiced it so, it got into their heads.

Katara, who wasn't really sure where to focus her chakra tried to focus it in one area. Kakashi said: "I'm simply going to see if you kids are strong enough to fight. Even though you're eliminated Sakura, you have to practice."

Sakura sighed and asked: "Why? I've already mastered it." Kakashi answered: "Well, practice makes perfect so start practicing how to climb a tree without using your hands." Sure enough, Sakura did. But since she couldn't get her head together, she fell on her butt a lot of times.

Naruto was worse; he wasn't able to really work up 4 feet of a tree. The tree each of them are climbing were approximately around 10 feet so, it was going to be complex. And I mean really complex.

Sasuke thought this was to be a piece of cake but he had a really hard time even climbing 8 feet. He used to do 10 but now, he can't even get beyond eight anymore. Katara who ignored the pain every time she fell got up to 6 feet as her highest.

Naruto and Sasuke, as usual were competing, Sakura was having a hard time concentrating because of their argument, Katara, who had a big problem in containing her dragon bijou was already forcing herself to climb further.

Kakashi looked at them with embarrassment and said: "If you guys wanna win, you might as well practice till this afternoon." Kakashi observed them and told himself: "Whenever these kids practice, they are all eager to outdo one another."

"Even Sasuke is trying to outdo Naruto."

Sasuke and Naruto began arguing again and Sakura was trying to make Naruto stop bugging Sasuke. While the 3 bickered, Katara had already surpassed them and was already at the very top of the tree.

Katara called out: "The view is so nice from the top!" Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto looked at each other with bewilderment as they saw Katara walk back down. Kakashi smiled and said: "At least you could do it better than the other 3."

Actually, Kakashi was teasing them because he knew one thing; they can never tolerate failure especially, Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke and Naruto went at it again. They both collapsed until they finally stopped arguing and they were able to climb a tree.

Sakura who finally got her head together was able to achieve it and this was able to complete their training. When they were done, they headed to the arena where the match between Ten-ten and Temari was already half-way decided.

Temari negated almost every attack of Ten-Ten and she was able to throw it back and make it even worse. She did the necessary hand seals and cast: "Futon: Daitoppa no Jutsu." (Wind Element: Great Breakthrough technique)

She was able to blow Ten-ten back but this didn't discourage Ten-ten from trying another assault strategy. She leaped over Temari in order to get through her defense and then, she was able to disarm her by simply knocking away the fan by using the Soshoryu no Jutsu.

As soon as she got Temari unarmed, she used her tonfa clubs and started hitting her with all her weapons. Temari had already exhausted a lot of her chakra due to Ten-ten's attempted assaults.

So, in a few minutes, Ten-ten was declared winner. It was quite amazing since Ten-ten lost to Temari at the chuunin exam. Ten-ten smiled looking at Neji and Neji, he just smiled in approval.

The next battle, this was going to be a bit dangerous since Gaara and Katara were both powerful. The first thing Gaara did when the match started was let out some sand. He filled the whole stadium with sand and the place completely slowed Katara down.

She couldn't move and there was a big problem. Gaara quickly did some hand seals and cast: "Sabaku Kyu." (Sand Coffin) The sand encased itself on Katara and began crushing her. Since she had a lot of chakra as well, Gaara had a hard time doing the Sabaku Soso. (Imploding Sand Funeral)

Katara was able to find a loose opening and she was able to the single handed jutsu. She cast: "Hijutsu: Yomi Magen Ryu!" (Secret Art: Demon Dragon of the Underworld) A dragon appeared from the ground and thrashed Gaara.

Gaara was quick enough to summon the shield of Shukaku by casting: "Saiko Zettai Bogyo: Shukaku no Tate" (Extreme Hard Ultimate Defense: Shield of Shukaku) although it needed a mass amount of chakra, it was very useful since her attack began cutting the Sabaku Kyu and the Shukaku no Tate.

Kankuro and Temari stood there, staring with awe. They have always known for Gaara to be strong like Naruto, but to be beaten by a girl? That's a bit strange. Sasuke commented: "If Gaara gets himself engaged to close range combat, I'm sure he would lose."

Sakura, who was also observing asked: "Is it possible to have single handed techniques?" Kakashi replied: "Yes, it is possible. Like the chasing ninja from hide in the mist village remember?"

For those who watch Naruto, recall of what happened to Sasuke. (Sasuke: Why always me? Author: Coz, Sakura thought you died there and I liked that battle scene.)

Sakura whispered: "Oh. I see." She looked at Gaara and remembered the time when Naruto, Sasuke and she had to fight Gaara but Naruto was the only one capable of defeating him. Katara dodged all of Gaara's attempts to crush her. Then, this allowed her to use the dragon taijutsu technique.

Katara changed her position and said: "This is what I call the Ryuken style." (Dragon fist, _ken_ means fist and _ryu_ means dragon) She made her fist look like a claw and she bent her right knee and extended her left.

Gaara smirked and said: "That taijutsu can't kill me. That's for sure." Katara replied: "I don't intend to kill you, Gaara. All I need is a way how to penetrate your shield." She ran forward and did combos in attempt to knock it down.

Gaara said: "Your attempts are futile, what do you think you're doing?" Katara smiled and said: "I was breaking holes into it with my chakra." Gaara saw all the places she hit had holes in it and this was able to give her a chance.

Since she was a dragon user, she can summon any type of dragon she wanted. She did hand seals and then cast: "Ninpou, Ryu Renge no Jutsu." (Ninja Art, Dragon Lotus technique) Sakura asked: "Has there ever been a technique like that?"

Kakashi explained: "Well, it was created by the Chigusa clan. Possible that she could be from there and it wasn't really known since the Chigusa clan were not as famous as the Uchiha clan, the Hyuga clan and others."

The Dragon Lotus technique would summon 5 dragons that would wrap around the opponent and the summoner can strike while the dragons holds th enemy in place. Then, if desired, the summoner can command the dragons to do a beast like attack. Like the Garoga of Kiba.

The dragons wrapped around Gaara and held him down. This allowed Katara to strike. She got through his hard defense and she hit Gaara with all her taijutsu techniques. Then, she leaped up and left for the last blow, Gaara did the kawirimi to avoid and he was able to get a good hit at her.

But, he forgot that Katara didn't dismiss her dragons just yet, she commanded: "Now! Attack!" The dragons lunged at Gaara and hit him so hard that he was sent flying. Temari winced as she saw her brother get smashed by Katara's dragons.

Neji was struck with awe together with his 2 cousins, Hinata and Hanabi Hyuga. Neji said to himself: "Sooner or later, I'll have to face her." Neji smirked and he walked away to begin preparing himself just in case he goes against Katara Chigusa.

So, as a result of fatigue, Gaara collapsed and Katara was the winner. Ino looked at the stage with awe and shocked, she had never seen anybody that strong and she was hoping that she would never face Katara in battle.

When Katara got up from the arena, Sakura congratulated her, Naruto said: "Not bad, Katara! Seems like the training did you some good." Katara nodded and said: "Yeah, I hope I get to face you in a battle. It seems like you're a very good ninja."

The moment Naruto heard that, he went extremely red. He was so happy that somebody finally complimented him aside from Iruka. Sasuke walked up to her and said: "You did great. I mean, you pulverized Gaara and the last time I went against him, I couldn't even last 30 minutes."

Katara smiled and said sheepishly: "That's a fib, Sasuke. You could've done better." Sasuke shook his head and admitted: "Actually, that's the sad truth." Katara giggled and said: "Well, you've gotten a lot stronger I think. After you got defeated by Neji, you trained hard so you can win."

Sasuke looked at her and gazed into her amethyst eyes. She looked at his dark black eyes and slowly, this was one thing Sasuke's gonna remember all his life. Sasuke and Katara actually kissed each other.

Ino and Sakura saw this and their jaws dropped including other girls. Sakura muttered: "Unfair, she got her kiss from him. That little--." Her inner Sakura was saying: "Ooooh, that's it. I've gone too soft on her!"

Ino muttered: "I hate her…!" Then, the other girls had one thought in mind, kill Katara before Sasuke hears her out. When they parted, Sasuke whispered: "Can you make those girls over there jealous? I'd like to see their faces."

"Oh really now?"

"Really, Katara."

Katara did what he wanted her to do. She leaned closer and said: "Sasuke-kun…" Sasuke turned bright red when she told him that. He actually liked it when she called him that. He brushed hair back and said quietly: "You're doing quite a job."

Katara whispered: "I can see that." When Sasuke looked to his left, the girls were boiling with anger and turning green with envy. Katara let go of Sasuke and whispered to Sakura: "You know, you're neglecting someone who really worships you. You should try talking to him."

Katara slipped past the crowd with Sasuke following her and she left Sakura clueless. The first person who came in mind was Naruto and then, Rock Lee. Sakura wondered: "I wonder who she was referring to…"

Sasuke and Katara walked out of the stadium and headed back to Sasuke's house. While going there, they spotted a shadow in the forest. Katara stopped and stared at the area where she saw the mysterious shadow.

Sasuke walked near her as soon as she stopped. He asked: "Sense anything?" Katara said: "I feel a large amount of chakra and a malicious presence." Sasuke said to himself: "Can't be Gaara. He was there at the stadium and it wouldn't be Shukaku either since he's inside Gaara."

Sasuke and Katara decided to investigate. They darted towards the forest of death and entered to see what was chasing after them.

When they entered the forest, they sensed nothing that is, until they got into the middle. Unknown to them, they were surrounded by ninja hunters hired by Orochimaru.

Then, they heard a swift sound nearby the trees. Katara and Sasuke turned towards the sound but nothing was seen. They could see shadows in the dark since there was a small amount of light emitting from the sun.

Then, someone creeped behind Katara and grabbed her and said: "Got you, you little xanthippe." Katara shrieked and she was held down by 3 ninjas. Sasuke tried to help her, but his attempts were made in vain because 5 other ninjas held him down and knocked him out.

Katara shouted: "Let me go!" She used her chakra to burst free but a snake coiled tightly around her and she couldn't uncoil the snake even with her dragon strength. Then, she heard laugh evilly behind the shadows.

She demanded: "Show your face, you snake!" Orochimaru appeared and his yellow beady eyes gleamed and this wasn't a good sign. He said: "Well, since Sasuke followed you here. I think we should kill him so that he won't be able to report to his sensei that you vanished."

One of the ninjas got close to Sasuke and put a kunai near is neck and said: "Hehe. This kid is as good as dead." Katara shouted: "Don't you dare even touch a particle on his skin!" Orochimaru gave the ninja the signal to draw the kunai closer and this caused a small amount of blood to trickle down his neck.

Katara was alarmed as she saw this. Orochimaru said: "Unless you cooperate with us, he will lose his life very slowly and painfully." Katara was left with a shocking decision and she decided: "I'll go with you. Just, don't ever threaten me like that again and leave Konoha out of this."

Orochimaru grinned and ordered his ninjas to bring her with him and they brought her to the Otokagure or the Sound Village.

cloudstrife22793: Alright. That's done. Next chapter will come in soon.

Sasuke: Great, I nearly got killed and the only way for Katara to save me was to let him take her.

cloudstife22793: Don't worry. We'll get her back.

Naruto: Let's hope she lives by then.

Sakura: (Yay, Sasuke is all mine!) Hehehehehe…

cloudstrife22793: You say something?

Sakura shakes her head and says: Nope. I said nothing.

Naruto: By the way, please send a review.


	13. The Failed Rescue

cloudstrife22793: Chapter 13, ready to go.

Sasuke: Does this mean I get to find her?

Naruto: Hey, you're not including us again.

Sakura: I can see that.

Sasuke: What do I care about you dimwits?

cloudstrife22793: Hey, easy on the fighting. You guys can't fight now since you guys still have to look for Katara.

Sakura: Good point, but what do I care about her?

Sasuke: If they don't wanna go, I'll do it myself.

cloudstrife22793: Ooooh, finally brave enough to find your princess now, huh?

Sasuke: Shut up. Now do the disclaimer!

cloudstrife22793: I don't own anybody in Naruto except Katara and her clan. Now, on with the story…

Chapter 13- The Failed Rescue

Sasuke got up to his feet after that horrible ambush. He heard every single word and he was determined more than ever to save Katara's life. She had saved his by cooperating with Orochimaru.

Sasuke felt the deep wound that was lined at his neck. He knew that he had to tell Kakashi and the others about her being kidnapped by Orochimaru. His heart ached whenever he thought of Katara being kidnapped and tortured.

So, without wasting anymore time, he left the area and went to tell Tsunade and Kakashi about it. So, he went to the arena and approached Kakashi and told him everything that had happened.

Although, Sakura, Ino and the other girls were still annoyed at Katara for earning Sasuke's heart and recognition, they decided to help her since Sasuke liked her so much. Kakashi immediately told Tsunade and Tsunade of course sent out a team to find her.

Kakashi explained that Sasuke should also go, since he knows a lot more about Orochimaru than the rest of the Genins and Chuunins. Tsunade was not sure but she consented anyway.

The tournament was put on hold until they find Katara. So, the search party was composed of Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, Rock Lee and Chouji. Their leader for this mission was Neji since he was a Jounin already.

As they left the village, Sasuke vowed to himself: "I won't return to this village until I find her." They left and went on through the forest going to Otokagure or in other words, the Land of Sound.

As they went through the forest, they encountered one of Orochimaru's accomplices, Jirobu. Jirobu was this big man who uses rocks as his weapons and he went against Chouji the last time.

After each of Chouji's previous losses in the tournament, Chouji's desire to become stronger was what granted his wish. Shikamaru, who was ordered to take command of team 10 said: "We'll handle this."

Neji asked: "Why is that?"

"Coz, I got a pretty neat idea that might defeat Jirobu."

Jirobu didn't hesitate no longer; he did a few hand seals and cast: "Doton, Doryuu Dango." (Earth Element, Earth Mausoleum Dumpling) He used mud and soil to attack the 9 ninjas.

However, before he could move to come in close range, Shikamaru cast: "Kage Mane no Jutsu." (The Art of Me-and-My-Shadow) Followed by Ino's Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Disturbance technique) and then, finally, Chouji's Bubun Baika no Jutsu. (Partial Multi Size Expansion)

The other 6 ninjas were amazed by Team 10's teamwork for they had neither complications nor any objections. Then, Jirobu used his chakra to struggle free out of the trio's team work. Ino had a hard time holding down Jirobu since he had a lot of chakra.

Chouji was also having a problem since his jutsu couldn't hold Jirobu. Shikamaru however didn't seem to have much of a problem except the fact that the shadow was retracting due to Jirobu's struggling.

Then, Shikamaru told them: "Go, we'll handle it from here! Katara's more important right now." Although Neji was reluctant to leave the 3 of them, finally consented and commanded the others to move on.

As soon as they left, Ino moaned: "Bright idea, dummy. Now, how do we kill him if we can't even hold him down and we can't even keep up with his chakra?" Shikamaru grinned and said: "Simple." He did a few hand seals again and cast: "Kage… Kubi Shibari no Jutsu!" (Shadow Neck Binding Technique)

A shadow hand crawled up Jirobu's body and began choking him, but it took Shikamaru a long time since Jirobu was already fighting back. But, Shikamaru was able to lock the hand on his neck since Ino paralyzed him by using the Shinranshin and completely took control of his body.

As the team got deeper in the forest, their next opponent was now, Sakon and Ukon, 2 brothers who can merge with one another or another person. As much as the team feared, they hated it whenever they came across this guy.

Then, Kiba decided to diverse him while the other 5 go on further. But, Neji refused and decided to help Kiba. Naruto and the others decided the same thing as they went on.

Before the fight even started, Tayuya, Kidomaru and Kimimaro/ Kimimaru came into the scene so, now it was 4 against 6. It may seem the team may have outnumbered them but, Kimimaro can make up for that by using the Tsubaki no Mai. (Dance of the Camellia)

Not only that, Kidomaru can summon spiders, Tayuya can summon dead warriors and Sakon and Ukon, well, they're known for merging with people and killing them at the same time. So, that would kind of turn the tables in this battle.

However, Neji, Rock Lee, Kiba and Naruto had a pretty good idea what those 4 ninjas can easily do. However, Taiyuya is a problem. The only person to have ever defeated her was Shikamaru with small help from Temari.

Naruto and Rock Lee went after Kimimaro, Neji went after Kidomaru, and Kiba went against Sakon and Ukon while Sasuke, leaving him with no choice has to go against Taiyuya.

As the fierce battle started, Naruto multiplied himself by using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) in order to take down Kimimaro in numbers while Rock Lee was looking for the perfect opportunity to use the Omote Renge. (Initial Lotus)

When Kidomaru summoned the spiders, Neji knew very well in what to do, he activated his Byakuggan and then, used the first stage palm technique known as the Hakke Rokujyon Sho. (Eight Trigrams 64 palms)

Neji hit every one of them until that is, he was forcibly placed on a web and aimed at for target practice. Then, Kiba used his Combination Transformation with Akamaru and used the Garoga (Double Wolf Piercing Fang) to thrust Sakon and Ukon beastly down to the ground.

Sasuke however had a hard time since Tayuya used the Mateki: Genbuso Kyoku (Dem Flute: Sound Warrior Manipulating Melody) to command her warriors to go after him.

Sasuke burned them by using the Katon Hosenka (Fire Element: Phoenix Fire technique). But as the battle went on further, something happened and it wasn't expected, what they saw was this huge silver dragon roaring with rage and destroying everything in its path.

On top of it were Orochimaru and Katara, who was completely under Orochimaru's control. The Sound 5 drew back from the battle and let Katara take care of the Konohagure group of ninjas.

Orochimaru whispered to her: "Kill them. Destroy them. Also, make sure you get the boy over there, the container of the nine-tailed fox." He simply wanted the vast amount of chakra Naruto had and he also wanted Sasuke's sharingan ability since he couldn't get Itachi.

Katara did a small amount of single handed hand seals and cast: "Hijutsu: Yomi Magen Ryu." (Secret Technique: Demon Dragon of the Underworld) She summoned a dragon from the Underworld and commanded it to thrash and kill every opposing ninja.

The ninjas were left with no other choice but to split up. They were completely baffled; they had no idea on how to beat Katara, especially since she was trained to be an assassin. Neji and Rock Lee were forced to move to another part of the area they were in since Katara was aiming there.

Sasuke knew that Katara was under control so; he tried to knock some sense back into her. He used a tree as a climbing post and he kicked off and landed right on the dragon, but Katara was guarded by the Sound 5.

Sasuke told himself: "I need someone to distract them; I can't get through unless someone holds them down." Then, as if some genie were watching him, someone cast: "Shinranshin no Jutsu!" (Mind Body Disturbance Technique)

The one causing confusion was Tayuya because Ino was forcing her to attack her own teammates. Ino shouted: "Go, Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke ignored the Sasuke-kun part and went towards Katara. But then, he had to face Orochimaru, who knocked him down.

Both of them crashed where Naruto was. So, this gave Naruto a chance to help Sasuke reclaim Katara. Naruto cast: "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Technique) Orochimaru did a few hand seals and cast: "Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Ku no Tachi." (Kusanagi Sword: Long Sword of the Heavens)

He drew out a sword from his mouth (Eww, gross…) and slashed down all of Naruto's clones without a problem. Then, Sasuke tried to compensate for Naruto but, he was badly hit by Katara's dragons.

When Orochimaru realized his complete control over her, he used her dragon powers to destroy all of them. At first, he hesitated on the idea but then, why use her for defense if she can cause so much damage?

Orochimaru whispered: "Go, and do not fail me. Failure is intolerable."

"Yes, Master Orochimaru."

She did hand seals and cast the Ryu Renge no Jutsu (Dragon Lotus technique) this technique was so lethal that it threw back Sasuke and Naruto towards the others. Neji, though, gave it a shot, but Katara used the Ryuken style and used in combination with the Dim Mak or the Death Touch.

She hit Neji with towering force at the chest and she knocked him out real good. The death touch was used for assassination to kill with no blood. Neji then after he was thrown back, he began to spit out blood.

Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji tried their formation but no avail. Katara leaped up high before Shikamaru could bind his shadow to hers. Then, Ino couldn't use the Shintenshin no Jutsu (Art of the Valentine) in order to control her body but the dragon spirit within her rejected the technique.

Chouji couldn't keep up with her speed since he was a lot fatter than her. (Chouji: Hey, you're mean! Me: Sorry…) Katara took advantage over Chouji and used his attack to attack his teammates instead.

Rock Lee passed through most of the attacks easily since he was also very fast and he was able to use the Kage Buyo (Shadow of the Dancing Leaves). Once he kicked her up, he decided to use the Omote Renge (Initial Lotus).

But when he began to wrap the bandages around her, Katara spun over and used the Hayabusa Otoshi (Peregrine Falcon Drop) on him. She couldn't do the Omote Renge so she just did the weaker pile drive.

Then, Naruto used the Odama Rasengan and Sasuke used the Chidori, but it was hopeless because they just slammed into each other. Kiba was the only one who was able to get a hit on her since he used the Garoga with Akamaru.

He slashed her arm and she was thrown back by the attack. As soon as Tayuya had stopped attacking her teammates, she cast an unbreakable illusion which really held all of them down.

Luckily, there was a slight intervention of Jiraya and his frog since he saw who exactly they were going against, he was able to make the Sound 5 and Katara together with Orochimaru, flee since he intervened with such a huge frog and used the Gamayu Endan. (Fire Release: Toad Oil Bullet)

When they fled, Jiraya scolded: "Are you nuts? Did you even get permission from the Hokage or does she even know you're out here?" Naruto retorted: "Why do you need to know, you pervert?"

Jiraya and Naruto were about to get into a fight again, until Sasuke decided to explain to Jiraya. Although it sounded smooth, he had a hard time saying it since it felt he ripped it from his throat.

Jiraya was quite satisfied with Sasuke's explanation and he let them off easily. Jiraya said: "Fine, I'll let you off, for once. But, you won't do this again unless you got somebody who at least, knows how to whack Orochimaru's ass."

Naruto grunted and protested: "But, we ain't babies, Jiraya-sensei!" Jiraya glared at him that made Naruto shut up for awhile. When they were about to return, they were again ambushed by the Sound Five it seemed like they really want them dead.

They weren't exactly in a good condition. So, this was extremely easy for the Sound Five and Orochimaru. But, Orochimaru didn't join this fight. Instead, he chose Katara to fight them instead.

Katara was able to win handily by hurting Neji even more than awhile ago. She drained Naruto by making him overuse his techniques. Shikamaru maybe smart but she was more cunning than he was.

She simply used a technique called the Hyoui no Jutsu (Possession Skill) and took possess of his body and let the Sound 5 hit him. Ino was outsmarted by Katara when she used an illusion and used Sasuke as part of it.

Orochimaru stopped Jiraya and their summoned animals began to fight against each other. Rock Lee forced himself to open the 5 celestial gates then; she broke his knee and flung him towards Kiba.

Then, Chouji, she used an attack known as the Kokuryu Ha (Black Dragon Wave) and she was able to slam Chouji hard and she wasn't having a hard time. It took them such difficulty to defeat her.

Sasuke luckily, was able to knock her down and was able to get a slight bit of sense into her head. Sasuke said: "What's gotten into you? I thought you only did this just so you can get him out of Konoha?"

Katara replied: "I have no need for a weak ninja like you. You're just trying to confuse me! Get away from me!" She released a large amount of chakra and she hurt Sasuke badly. When Orochimaru saw this, he went to her and whispered to her: "Kill him."

When Katara raised her kunai to kill Sasuke, the Orochimaru's grasp on her began to wear off, so he ordered the others to retreat. They pulled back their attack and left them weakened. But the words of Katara echoed in Sasuke's mind.

"I have no need for a weak ninja like you."

She actually called him weak and she was so different. The look in her eyes, everything, the tone of her voice. He wasn't sure if that was really her. Naruto went to him and signaled him to go back with them.

As they got back to Konoha, they explained to Tsunade the intervention of Jiraya, the ambush, Katara's sudden change and the double attack plan of Orochimaru.

Tsunade was extremely disappointed, what she also noticed, Sasuke wasn't there to listen to the briefing, he was somewhere in Konoha, all alone for awhile.

(Sasuke's P.O.V)

I couldn't believe what just happened. She suddenly turned bad and she didn't even spare any of us. Neji's already in the hospital and so's Rock Lee since she dealt the heaviest damage to them.

I also didn't understand one thing. She actually called me "weak" but she's actually the weak one right now. She's completely under Orochimaru's control and she has no memory of who I am. It's as if one day later, all her memories are poof. Gone.

She might have a point though of me being weak. I wasn't able to help her. Especially the time when Orochimaru threatened her. I just wish if I could return back to the past.

I sat alone on the roof tops and I saw and felt Sakura's presence. I asked: "What do you want?" Sakura replied: "Nothing really." She sat beside me and gazed at the sun with me.

She said: "Sasuke-kun." I answered: "Yeah?" Sakura asked: "Do you really love her? I mean you let her call you Sasuke-kun and you seem to like it when she does." I remained silent; I didn't want to tell her such a private thing.

I left silently and vanished, leaving Sakura alone on the roof top.

(Normal P.O.V)

Sasuke walked sadly back to his house. When he got there, he stared at blank space. He remembered the day when he first met Katara. It was a snowy night. Then, Sasuke pulled out something from his pocket; it was a glimmering gold bracelet.

But, it wasn't just any bracelet; it belonged to a certain ninja who had first earned his heart and trust.

It was Katara's. Katara Chigusa's.

cloudstrife22793: That's it, for now…

Naruto: Aww, man, we got beaten up by Orochimaru and his minions if that's the term.

Sakura: More like henchmen.

Sasuke: Accomplices.

cloudstrife22793: Ah, who cares? By the way, don't forget to submit reviews. No one does anymore.


	14. The Infiltration

cloudstrife22793: Alright, time to get back to work!

Naruto: Oh yeah!

Sasuke: Great! Does the mission start?

cloudstrife22793: Yup, and this time it's Team 7 and Team 8 who will go on this mission.

Naruto: What team are we again?

Sakura: We're team 7, dummy! (Stupid Naruto…)

Naruto: Oh. Hehehe…. Sorry.

cloudstrife22793: Never mind, I don't own anything in Naruto and I only own Katara! The End!

Chapter 14- Her History Revealed

All the teams were in Konohagure. Even Sunakagure was willing to help in order to find her. Actually, the one who was most bothered about this was Sasuke. Sasuke happened to like Katara more than anything and he was willing to anything to save her.

Sasuke sat on a tree branch, watching and observing people's actions. Then, Sakura called out: "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke looked behind him and saw Sakura coming towards him. Sasuke got down and answered coolly: "What?"

Sakura said: "Well, Kakashi sensei wants to talk to us and it's about a mission." Sasuke sighed and said to himself: "I hope this is a rescue mission." They walked together towards the bridge where Kakashi always meets them.

Kakashi then appeared out of the blue and greeted: "Hello!" Sakura and Naruto were taken by surprise but Sasuke just stood there staring at the water below the bridge. As Kakashi got down, he said something loud enough Sasuke could hear: "It seems you're still worried about Katara."

Sasuke replied: "Of course I am. I mean, didn't you see her powers? She's a lot more powerful than all of us put together." Kakashi thought about it and replied: "Yup, after all, I've done a little bit of researching and she's known as the 'Dragon Girl'."

Naruto asked: "Whaddya mean 'Dragon Girl'?" Kakashi replied: "She's a descendant of the mot famous assassin clan, the Chigusa clan. The Chigusa clan specialized in dragon projectiles and dragon attacks."

Team 7 exchanged glances with each other and then Sasuke asked: "What else?" Kakashi added: "Well, they say every after 5 generation of ninjas pass, one of the genins will be sealed with the dragon spirit. The dragon spirit allows them to do any attack even though at such a low level."

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he asked: "You mean she can kill us?" Kakashi nodded and said sorrowfully: "I guess that's kinda about it." Sakura drew back horrified and she then decided to change the subject. She asked: "What's our mission all about?"

Kakashi replied: "It's a rescue mission. The objective: Save Katara." Sasuke was glad to hear about that mission since he wanted to settle his score with Orochimaru because of what happened before and because of what was happening now.

Kakashi added: "Although, I do have to warn you. This is an A-class mission. I know you have done one before but don't let it get to your head." Sakura nodded and then, she thought to herself: "Yes! This time I get my chance to impress Sasuke!"

Naruto had different thoughts: "Now, I can prove to be the greatest ninja of all time, the Hokage! Sasuke on the other hand couldn't think about anything except Katara and Orochimaru. He wondered if the Katara he knew was still there, there was a small possibility but he had to take that chance.

So, they all agreed to take on the mission along with Team 8 composed of Hinata, Kiba and Shino. They all reported to Tsunade and told her of their acceptance. Tsunade gave them the area and what was in it and all the other info they needed. They forced themselves to make success in this mission. They can't fail twice. This should be over once and for all.

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As it so happens, they had to go through another clan's territory but they were lucky enough to pass through since Naruto and Sakura were remembered. The Fuma Clan even gave them shortcuts in order to reach the territory safely.

Few hours later, they were all tired out. Kurenai advised for them to take a break first since they were already traveling for 9 straight hours. They started at 10:00 in the morning and then reached there at 7:00 at night.

Hinata sat down near Naruto and then, Shino and Kiba sat near each other, Naruto and Sakura sat beside each other and Sakura was beside Sasuke. Naruto asked: "What are we going to do once we get inside?"

Sasuke said coldly: "Simple. We rescue Katara and then, we beat up Orochimaru and then, we go home." Kakashi said: "It isn't that simple Sasuke. You do know Orochimaru might have a few bodyguards."

Sasuke was furious with himself so, he accidentally exploded his anger off at Kakashi. He shouted: "I don't care! Even if I have to dirty my hands, I just want her back!" All of them were surprised with his reaction and he just shut his mouth after that.

Kakashi sighed and sat down with Kurenai. Kurenai whispered: "You're going to let him get away with that?" Kakashi said monotonously: "Well, just have to get used to it now and then. He can't always suppress his anger forever."

Kurenai looked at the Genins and Chuunins that were staying there. Kurenai thought to herself: "You know, Kakashi might be right, I mean a human can't easily suppress their anger. Sooner or later, they'll have to release it, whether they want it or not."

Sakura said: "Sasuke, you shouldn't have exploded at Kakashi sensei." Sakura was waving her finger in front of Sasuke. Sasuke shoved her hand away and muttered: "Just leave me alone." Sakura was shocked by his sudden hostility. She sat quietly and she tried to think that Sasuke didn't snap at her.

Kiba and Shino looked at each other and they decided to eat something. Hinata asked Naruto: "Naruto, why did Sasuke just explode like that? And who's he talking about?" Naruto looked at Sasuke and replied: "Well, there's this girl who we met in Konoha. She was unconscious on the beach…"

(Flashback)

"Hey Sasuke! Look!" Naruto cried out. Sasuke who was shocked by Naruto's shouting answered: "What? Huh?" They saw a person lying on the frozen beach and Naruto said: "Do you think he's okay?" Sasuke replied: "Obviously not."

They both went there and Naruto asked: "Hey are you, okay?" He turned the person over and saw it was a girl who was nearly chewed up by a shark. Naruto asked: "Seen her before?"

"Nope."

(End of Flashback)

Naruto explained: "The fact is Sasuke had more time to bond with her and same with her. In fact, I think he likes her. Not only as a friend but a little bit more intense."

Hinata whispered an "oh" as they looked at Sasuke who's arms were folded and with his legs against his chest. Sasuke was having a few flashbacks of his own. The day they met, the day she demonstrated her power, and the say of that… kiss.

Sasuke thought to himself: "I hope I can get the real Katara back. She's a lot more than a friend to me. She's unique… She's…the one I love." Sasuke looked up at the sky and said: "I just wish this was a lot easier."

The next day, they were off again. As they reached the hideout, Kakashi gave them a couple of rules. First was, no reckless ideas, another was don't go crazy and the last one was to stay together.

Kurenai led her team into the back while Kakashi took the front part. Although, Orochimaru knew this was going to happen, so, he sent a few people to pay them a nice surprise.

(Kakashi's team)

Sakura wondered: "That's funny. The last time I came here, it wasn't that heavily guarded but there were still a few guards but now, they're not even here." Even Kakashi was baffled, he knew Orochimaru wouldn't do anything like this until Naruto stepped on a certain rock tile and the walls began closing in on them.

Sasuke snapped: "Naruto, what did you do? You want us dead or something?" Naruto shouted: "I didn't do anything! I just kept on walking!" Sakura shouted: "Well, don't worry about that! Worry about the fact that we're going to be pancakes!"

Kakashi thought of the quickest way he could think of. He told them: "Use the substitution technique!" As the walls closed on them, they quickly vanished and left just logs that were splintered.

As they got out, they were all huffing and puffing from terror even Sasuke, who was supposedly not afraid of anything was breathing in terror. Sasuke said between breaths: "I'm glad I'm still alive." Sakura nodded in agreement and Naruto didn't say anything.

Kakashi beckoned them: "Alright, let's go on." They all got up and went on.

(Kurenai's team)

Hinata remained behind Shino and Kiba. She was pretty doubtful that Orochimaru could just let in anybody. But where they passed, was the place with the most guards and prisoners.

Kurenai said: "You better keep your guard up. All of you, including you, Hinata." Hinata nodded in compliance and then as they reached the end of the hallway, they saw a lot of ninjas ready to kill them.

Kiba complained: "What now?" Shino said: "You should always expect this, Kiba." Kurenai warned: "Get ready!" The ninjas and prisoners lunged at them. The first to get attacked was Hinata. But she had a counter attack for this; she activated her byakuggan and did her famous technique, the Shugo Hakke Rokujyon Sho. (Protection of the Eight Trigrams, Sixty Four Palms)

She created a chakra dome and tore away the kunais that came her way and she hit the ninjas who tried to break her chakra dome. Kiba commanded: "Akamaru!" Akamaru barked and followed its master as they did a double attack.

First they transformed using the Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro (Man-Beast Combination Transformation: Double Headed Wolf), then they did a double attack known as the Garoga (Double Wolf Fang). The busted 4 ninjas but 8 more came behind him.

They jumped on him and buried him like football players. Next, was Shino, Shino used his bugs and they crawled all over the people who were piling on Kiba. He sucked up all their chakra and made them get off Kiba.

After that, a few ninjas chased after Kurenai who easily fooled them with an illusion attack. She made them seem they were strapped to a tree but they weren't. In the end they were knocked unconscious by Kurenai's attacks.

Kurenai said: "No killing! Just simply use restraint." Hinata was doing a pretty good job, all she did was knock them in the open cages and steal a key, and finally lock them in. She smiled, satisfied with what she did.

Kiba had everyone scared away by Akamaru while Shino infested the place with bugs (Even Kurenai can't stand it. After all, she's a girl.) And got them cornered. After that they tied them up and went on.

(Kakashi's team)

So far, nothing bad has happened. No attacks no nothing, except trap doors and squashing walls. Naruto wondered: "I wonder why Orochimaru hasn't sent anybody yet." Sakura added: "Same here. Shouldn't he be alerted by now?"

Kakashi said: "2 possibilities. One, Kurenai got there before us or he's waiting for us." As they walked on, they stopped by a big hallway. When they were at the hallway, they found nothing until they bumped into some people.

(Normal View)

Kurenai and Kakashi were now in the same room with their teams, they had no idea where Orochimaru, even Hinata was completely baffled even though she used her byakuggan to trace Orochimaru's chakra.

Then a voice was heard: "Welcome. I've been expecting you…"

cloudstrife22793: That's chapter 14!

Sasuke: Will we win this battle?

cloudstrife22793: All depends on my thoughts for the next few days.

Sakura: Geez! Now we have to fight Orochimaru!

cloudstrife22793: Well, Naruto did want a higher class mission than the ones he's be getting.

(Sakura glares at Naruto)

Naruto: Yeah, but not this way!

cloudstrife22793: Never mind, Hinata please tell the readers to do their main thing.

Hinata: (nods) Okay! Please don't forget to send reviews.


	15. The Battle of Memories

cloudstrife22793: I've updated my story! And this will be the last time, I will be able to update very quickly.

Sasuke: Why's that?

cloudstrife22793: Coz, I got school!

Sasuke: Oh.

Sakura: Aww, you should update every Saturday!

cloudstife22793: That's as if I have time.

Naruto: Well, you better start typing!

cloudstrife22793: Alright, please don't forget the disclaimer!

Sakura: The author doesn't own any of us except Katara!

Chapter 15- The Battle of Memories

As the two teams were left in the hallway, Orochimaru was there, standing with the Sound Six. Although there were eight of them, Orochimaru's subordinates were far more skilled than they were.

Not only that, don't forget that Katara was with them, although, she wasn't there. Kakashi wondered: "There's something wrong here…" Orochimaru sneered: "You stupid fool. I am glad you came here."

Out of now where, Katara appeared and took down Sasuke. Then, out of surprise they took down Team 7 and Team 8. Tayuya and Kidomaru took down Team 8 while Kimimaro and Jirobu took down Team 7.

Orochimaru held Sakon and Ukon back just in case of a backfire in the plan. As Sasuke and Katara battled it out, Sasuke avoided all her attacks and let her release all her chakra to tire her out.

However, it seemed it would be impossible, even though she released all her rage on him, nothing changed. Sasuke called out: "Katara stop acting! We're here to help you!" Katara snarled: "Fool! You'll never get it from me!"

She began to glow a brighter color of blue and unleashed all the dragons she formed out of chakra. The dragons lunged at Sasuke but he expertly dodged it and tried to find a way through her defense.

Meanwhile, Tayuya and Kidomaru were dealing with Team 8. Kiba, Shino and Hinata were having a hard time dealing with Tayuya's puppets. They lunged from every direction and if only Shikamaru were here, he would easily turn them against her.

Hinata activated byakuggan and found a window of opportunity. She focused her chakra into her palms and did her technique: Shugo Hakke Rokujyon Sho. (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms)

She blocked all the spiders that were crawling towards them, at the same time, she blocked Tayuya's warriors. She was able to bide enough time for Kiba and Shino to do their signature moves.

Shino summoned the kikai and made them crawl all over the warriors and Tayuya and held them down like restraint. Kiba quickly came from behind and did the Garoga with the transformed Akamaru.

Kurenai on the other hand, wasn't using any ninjutsu or genjutsu; she simply blocked all the attacks until a certain point. At this point, she cast: "Magen: Jubaku Satsu." (Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death)

An illusion of a tree wrapped around Kidomaru and she had a kunai in one hand and she stabbed Kidomaru's shoulder. Kidomaru soon saw reality and kicked her away and counter attacked.

On the other hand, Kakashi was dealing with Kimimaro since he was such an agile ninja and Kakashi was as fast as he was. Naruto and Sakura however could do nothing but evade due to Jirobu's advantage.

Then, Sakura popped up with an idea, she cast: "Bunshin no Jutsu!" 3 clones of her appeared and stood beside her.

"What do you plan doing with that?"

Sakura smiled and said: "Well, my clones can be a distraction and you can do the Rasengan." Naruto said: "Great idea! Just give me enough time to charge." Sakura agreed and she commanded the bunshin to attack.

Orochimaru sneered: "I don't think they'll have a chance. Sakon, Ukon." They turned to him, Orochimaru whispered to him: "Kill Sasuke. Or better yet, curse seal him. That way, I won't be wasting lives."

Sakon and Ukon nodded and did their task immediately. Sakon and Ukon got behind Sasuke and gave him a good beating. Katara looked to her left as Sasuke got beaten up further. Orochimaru held her shoulder and said: "Let them do the dirty work."

Katara, who had been beating up Sasuke, stared in horror as they beat him into a pulp. Katara said: "We made a deal remember?" Orochimaru smiled evilly and said: "Well, too bad. You got a problem now. Besides, that boy is weaker than you. Only the strong survive."

"_Only the strong survive…"_

Those words rang in Katara's head. She remembered someone telling her the same thing. Katara shook her head and shouted: "You liar!" She burst with boundless streams of chakra and the whole place got hit by the excess chakra she couldn't control.

Orochimaru saw the place was unstable and so was Katara's spirit. Katara faced him with the anger of the dragons boiling in her blood. Orochimaru quickly summoned Rashomon and escaped with the Sound Six.

Both teams were left in the hideout with no one who knows how to summon. Luckily, Naruto knew how to summon and Katara had sealed a contract with one of the dragons. Katara and Naruto summoned their animals at the same time and escaped and barely made it out.

As both teams escaped, they saw the Sound Six fleeing towards another area. It seemed they headed towards another area. They would be no threat… for now.

As they headed back, Katara stayed far away from Sasuke. They didn't speak to each other for awhile, until Katara went over. She asked: "Sasuke?" Sasuke faced her and replied: "Hm?"

Katara apologized: "I'm sorry. I just didn't want to endanger people's lives anymore, especially yours." Sasuke felt the sincerity in her words but replied coldly: "Just don't ever do that again. If you do, I'm not going to save you again."

Katara sighed and sat behind Sakura looking at the sky. Naruto whispered to Sasuke: "Wasn't that a bit mean?" Sakura said: "I think you overdid it." Sasuke looked at them coldly and said: "Hmph… I don't care."

Sakura, for the first time, slapped him squarely across the face and this shocked Naruto, Katara, Kiba, Shino and Hinata. They were staring at Sakura with disbelief; no one ever hit Sasuke just like that. At least no one had the guts.

Sakura scolded: "I know you're cold-hearted but that doesn't mean you have to be mean to the one who saved your life!" Katara held her back and said: "It's alright. I think I understand what he means."

Sakura turned to her and said: "Well, honestly, you shouldn't let Sasuke treat you like that if he likes you." Katara just looked away from Sakura and no longer spoke. Sasuke on the other hand, was rubbing his sore cheek from Sakura's slapping.

As time passed, Sasuke began to feel guilty about speaking to Katara like that. He moved closer, inch by inch and finally he got beside her. Kurenai said to Kakashi: "I think he's got no idea how to apologize."

"Couldn't agree with you more."

The dragon snorted, it actually understood what the two jounins were saying. The frog mumbled: "Stupid poker faced kid." Naruto heard him and said: "Who's poker faced kid?"

"The black haired dweeb that stung Katara's heart."

Naruto looked around and saw Sasuke. Kiba went over near Naruto and asked: "Do you think he'll ever forgive her?"

"I doubt it."

They turned around and saw Shino. Shino replied: "You do realize that she put millions of people in danger?"

"But that doesn't mean that he has to hurt her heart like that."

Hinata remained silent, she remembered one lesson from Kurenai: Be more of a listener, not a speaker. She just sat there, observing their movements. Then, all of a sudden, they heard a rumble.

The ground began to shake as a snake and a spider came across them. There were only two people who can summon that. Kidomaru and Orochimaru. The two animals halted at a full stop.

Orochimaru appeared on top of Rashomon's head and said: "Your life ends here."

TBC…

cloudstrife22793: Well, that's kinda about it. The summon battle will be submitted on either, Thursday or Friday.

Sakura: Sasuke's mean!

Naruto: Yeah!

Sasuke: Pfft… why do I even care?

Naruto: There you go again!

cloudstrife22793: Again, Hinata?

Hinata: Oh, okay. Don't forget the reviews!


	16. The Summoning Battle

cloudstrife22793: It's been a long time since I last updated my Naruto.

Sakura: I noticed.

Sasuke: I didn't know you would take forever.

cloudstrife22793: The only reason I take forever is because I also have to deal with school. As soon as I'm done, I've got a new idea for Naruto already.

Naruto: You already have an idea yet you're not even done with our story.

cloudstrife22793: Yeah, there are 2 chapters left and this is one of them.

Naruto: Wait, you're forgetting something.

cloudstrife22793: Oh, right. Sakura disclaimer please!

Sakura: The author doesn't own any of us except Katara coz she made Katara.

cloudstrife22793: Okay, now on with the show!

Chapter 16- The Summoning Battle

_Previously on Chapter 15, Katara and the rescue teams are cornered and challenged by Orochimaru. It was monster versus another. Gambuta versus Rashomon and the spider versus the Chigusa dragon._

Kidomaru and Orochimaru were ready to face them, obviously it wasn't exactly the teams wanted but it was the only way to head back to Konoha with Orochimaru and the Sound Six as their captives.

Naruto shouted: "WHAAAT? WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS GUY NOW? WHY?" Sakura moaned: "I wish Tsunade taught me how to summon." Then, Sasuke remembered something that he learned from Orochimaru, the sword of the heaven technique, Kusanagi Tsurugi: Ku no Tachi. (Kusanagi Sword: Long Sword of the Heavens)

Sasuke did the necessary hand seals and summoned the sword. Katara asked: "What's that for?" Sasuke replied: "To fight Orochimaru one on one with. I've got my reasons why I want to spill his blood."

Katara looked at him queerly and said: "Oh well, I'll join you on this one." She did hand seals and cast: "Ryu Tsurugi: Ryu Ojin no Ken." (Dragon Sword: Sword of the Dragon King) Her chakra slowly solidified into a long katana and it had the dragon seals on it.

Orochimaru smiled evilly, he had been waiting for those two for a very long time especially Katara. Tayuya asked: "Okay, what's the deal?" Kimimaro replied: "Master Orochimaru wants their bodies to learn the secret techniques. Although, he desires Sasuke for a different reason."

Tayuya smirked and said: "I see, then, we'll just have to take the interferers of Master Orochimaru's plan." Sakon and Ukon said evilly: "It would be our pleasure." Katara whispered to the dragon: "Okay, you take the spider. I think I better help Sasuke deal with Snake guy over here."

The dragon snorted and said: "Why can't you call me by my real name?" Katara sighed and said: "Okay, whatever Horyu." Horyu snorted and muttered: "She better at least give me more respect. After all, I am the Chigusa Dragon."

Kurenai and Kakashi were at the lost for the moment. Kurenai was concerned with safety of the team members and Kakashi was racking his brains for a way to get Orochimaru off the snake.

Sasuke shouted: "So, what are you going to do? Just stand there?" Orochimaru smiled evilly and without a warning the snake struck. The snake lunged at Gambuta who in return hopped up. Kurenai ordered her team: "Get ready to take down the others!"

Kiba, Shino and Hinata replied in unison: "Hai, sensei!" (Okay, master!) As Gambuta descended, Kurenai and her team jumped off Gambuta and this told the Sound Six to head after them. Sakon and Ukon challenged Akamaru and Kiba, Shino had to take Tayuya and Hinata took on Kimimaro. Leaving Kurenai with Jirobu. (Reason why? Hinata is the only one with the absolute defense to penetrate Kimimaro's attacks.)

Kakashi and Sasuke were left to take down Orochimaru and Sakura, Naruto and Katara took down Kidomaru. Kakashi and Sasuke flanked Orochimaru left and right and he was just avoiding all their attacks with ease as if they were nothing. The only thing that mattered was he gets Sasuke and Katara.

When the swords collided with one another, Orochimaru and Sasuke came into eye contact as Orochimaru sneered: "It seems you have trained well, my protégé." Sasuke snarled: "I'm not going to be your stupid puppet ever again, that's what's going to happen."

Orochimaru flung him away and then, Kakashi tried to attack him with the Raikiri (Lightning Edge) which was easily evaded. Sasuke and Kakashi had to devise a plan and fast. Meanwhile, Naruto, Sakura and Katara were defending themselves from Kidomaru's sticky web assault.

Sakura was defending herself from spiders, which were the grossest things she ever saw asides from blood. She did the Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu (Sakura Blizzard Technique) and set all spiders ablaze. Naruto on the other hand did the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) and used the clones to distract Kidomaru while Katara dealt the blows.

Surprisingly, Hinata was able to deflect Kimimaro's attacks and this stunned Kurenai, even though she was fighting she was able to see Hinata's effort in trying to fight. Kiba on the other side was pummeling Sakon and Ukon alongside Akamaru in big ugly two headed wolf form.

Shino in the meantime drained Tayuya's chakra to the limit until she could not cast anything. Although she summoned her warriors, Shino's bugs kept them busy. It seemed that they were out powering Orochimaru and the group but they were dead wrong.

The snake had overpowered Gambuta and Kidomaru's spider overpowered Horyu. The ground rumbled and this threw the others off guard. As the others fell of the summoned animals, Orochimaru snickered evilly at the sight and said: "See you, in ruins…"

The snake and the spider was about to crush them until they were pulled out of the way. When they saw the ones who rescued them it was none other than Tsunade, Jiraya and the other teams.

Sakura exclaimed: "Tsunade-sama!" Tsunade said: "How many times must I drill it into your head, not to stand there like an idiot?" Sakura looked down and mumbled: "Whoops."

Naruto laughed slightly until Sakura gave him a good whack on the head. Sasuke, who was being held by Kakashi asked: "Okay, so are we just going to run away or do we turn back?" Neji who overheard that said: "You've gotta be crazy if you wanna go back there."

Sasuke said: "Well, call me crazy if you want but I do want to go back there. I wanna get rid of him if it's the last thing I'm ever going to do." Ino said: "Gee Sasuke, that's really crazy." Then, Katara who was being pulled along by Shikamaru's shadow broke free and turned around.

Shikamaru shouted: "Hey! Where are you going? Stupid idiot…" Then, Sasuke happened to wriggle out of Kakashi's grip and head back following Katara. The teams stopped and then, they were speechless.

Then, Ten-ten decided: "I'll follow them, I string their feet with chakra strings." Then, Neji said: "No. You won't go alone." Ten-ten looked back as Neji went back speeding right ahead of her. Tsunade sighed; these kids were becoming really reckless at the wrong time.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Katara and Sasuke were running alongside each other. Sasuke said: "Listen, I just wanted to apologize for what I did, awhile ago. Kinda lost my patience back there."

Katara smiled and said: "It's alright, I understand." Sasuke smiled, it was so nice having an understanding friend, especially for one he has feelings for. When they got back to the open field where the Sound Six were, Orochimaru said: "I knew you kids would come back."

Sasuke shouted: "Yeah, we don't back down without a fight that's for sure!" Katara added: "Couldn't agree with you more!" They summoned their two swords and went directly towards Orochimaru and flanked him down in different directions.

But, to their dismay, Orochimaru avoided all their attacks and got Sasuke into a forbidden attack, the Sojasosai no Jutsu (Double Snake Kill). He used a clone to get rid of Sasuke so he could deal with Katara in numbers.

But, to his surprise, Katara used a last minute technique that cost her life but it saved Sasuke. By simply replacing Sasuke with herself, she took the damage instead. When Sasuke felt nothing, he opened his eyes and found Katara in Orochimaru's hands.

Orochimaru thought: "Finally, I can use her body to learn all the other techniques." Katara was completely paralyzed and her body was completely numb and sore. She couldn't even budge a single muscle.

Sasuke saw this and thought to himself: "No!" His eyes became the thing he have always wanted, the Mangenkyou Sharingan. His pupils were whirling with full speed and his eyes revealed the anger he had for his brother and Orochimaru.

He charged his palm full of chakra and went towards Orochimaru. This was the newer version of the Chidori, called the Chidori Nagashi. (1000 Birds Flying Current) Kidomaru saw the attack coming and he tried to block him but Sasuke surpassed his speed and went straight on.

Tayuya tried to use Genjutsu on him but no avail, his Mangenkyou Sharingan saw right through it. Jirobu tried to use his size as an advantage but Sasuke just used him as a stepping stool and he leaped right over Kimimaro who had tried to use the Tessenka no Ma: Tsuru (Dance of the Clematis: Vine) in order to stop him.

After avoiding all of them, Orochimaru was left with an open side and he launched straight down towards him. Orochimaru threw Katara in order to dodge that last attack but he was hit hard and sent flying.

Then, the remaining Sound Five were going attack him until the rest of the teams came back. When Kimimaro was about to deal his blow, Rock Lee came in and stopped the bone from slashing Sasuke's head in half.

Then, Tayuya met her match with Shikamaru who bound her puppets and outsmarted her in every way he could think of. Kidomaru was outgunned by Neji's fast attacks and Jirobu faced off against Chouji.

While Katara fell right off the snake, Sasuke jumped off to save her from breaking her neck. Lucky enough, he was able to reach her just in time before her head came in contact with a big rock.

Sasuke held her in his arms and began trying to wake her up. Katara was moaning in pain and that was the only sound she could manage at this point. Sasuke said: "I may hate Itachi a lot, but Orochimaru throwing down Katara and paralyzing her is something that's going to make me hate him even more!"

Sasuke lunged up and while Kakashi and Kurenai were defending the others from being slaughtered, here comes an enraged Sasuke and he slams his fist right into Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru slid back and both Kurenai and Kakashi were surprised.

Then, Orochimaru summoned the sword and since Sasuke had activated his sharingan, he did the same thing automatically. Orochimaru and Sasuke charged at each other and swords clashed against each other.

Meanwhile, Tsunade was dealing with the snake Rashomon. She had also ordered some of the ninjas to return to Konohagakure just in case Orochimaru sent extra forces to destroy Konoha completely.

So, they were left with Shikamaru, Rock Lee, Chouji, Sasuke, Naruto, Kurenai, Kakashi and an injured Katara. Tsunade found Katara lying on the floor and she went down to heal her. She also noticed that her backbone was slightly out of place and with her healing technique, she was able to put it back right into its place.

Katara moaned: "Uhh…" Tsunade told her: "You better take it easy or else you're going to be paralyzed for life." Tsunade again leaped away to deal with the Sound Nin and Katara was left there. Not knowing it either, Sakura was attacked by three Sound Ninjas. One was Abumi Zaku, a boy who used his arms to create air pressure.

Kin Tsuchi, not much is known about her except her vanity in keeping her hair long. Then the last is Dosu Kinuta, he is the leader of the group and the only one with a brain in my opinion.

Sakura exclaimed: "I thought you guys were dead! How'd you come back?" Zaku smirked and said: "Orochimaru simply revived us of course." Then, without any hostile reactions, they attacked just like before in the Chuunin exam.

Zaku cast: "Zankuha!" (Air Blast) The air blast began to pressure up in his hands and he blew away Sakura but Sakura used the substitution technique to get behind him and deal a couple of blows.

Kin used bells to confuse her opponent and Shikamaru had to deal with her too. Then, Dosu Kinuta tried to interfere with the fight between Rock Lee and Kimimaro. But, Naruto comes to Lee's aid and he beats the crap out of Kinuta.

During the fight between Orochimaru and Sasuke, Sasuke was hanging on the edge of the snake who in return tried to shake him off. Then, Orochimaru stood there while watching Sasuke cling on for dear life. Orochimaru smiled and said evilly: "Good bye, Sasuke."

The moments he stepped on Sasuke's fingers, Sasuke fell down straight for the ground, head first. Then, out of nowhere, a girl with dragon wings saved his life and brought him back up. Orochimaru was stunned; he had never seen Katara burst out a pair of wings except when she lost her sanity.

Katara lifted Sasuke, high enough in then air, exactly enough to beat the shit out of Orochimaru. Sasuke asked: "You ready?" Katara answered: "Yeah." Sasuke thought: "This is the last thing I could ever think of, if this doesn't work, nothing will."

Katara slingshot herself in the air and aimed for Orochimaru, with overwhelming strength, she threw Sasuke like a torpedo aiming for Orochimaru. As Sasuke headed straight down, Katara followed him after with her new technique that she created while she was under the control of Orochimaru. It was called the: Raijin Ryu Nagashi. (Thunder God Dragon Current)

She aimed straight down and there were two lights aiming for Orochimaru. Tayuya who had knocked away Shikamaru shouted: "Orochimaru-sama!" But the warning was two late, both shots came into a perfect hit.

Kakashi and Kurenai, who were both dealing with Orochimaru, stood in awe and Tsunade saw the attacking attempt made by the two kids. Their hands slashed Orochimaru and left him on the floor.

While the others were distracted, Kiba gave the signal by pummeling Sakon and Ukon, then, Chouji head butt Jirobu and Shikamaru choked Tayuya with the Shadow Binding technique. Neji internally destroyed Kidomaru with the Byakuggan and Rock Lee, out powered Kimimaro.

Finally, they have claimed their victory.

cloudstrife22793: Okay, that's done. All I need is the epilogue!

Naruto: Aww…

Sakura: Okay.

Sasuke: Finally.

cloudstrife22793: Well, anyway, readers! Reviews!


	17. An Ending and A Beginning

Sakura: Well, I guess this is the end.

Naruto: Yeah… that's so sad…

Sasuke: Finally, we got through Orochimaru and the Chigusa people.

cloudstrife22793: Yeah, and this is the epilogue. I'm sorry if it's really short.

Chapter 16- The End of a Journey, A beginning of a new life

After Orochimaru's capture, life seemed to return top normal. Naruto was usually eating his ramen and training and then Sakura was studying to learn more about Katara's secret clan, Kakashi was promoted to ANBU and many more.

Neji finally had time to train more and learn how to invent a few like Hakke San Hyakku Rokujinshi Sho (Eight Trigrams Three Hundred Sixty One Palms) and Hakkesho Dai Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Great Palm Rotation) upon which he learned from his uncle.

Hinata and Hanabi also went and trained with their genius cousin and Neji finally learned to respect Hinata after she had proven that she made another technique but a lot faster than the Shugo Hakke Rokujyon Sho (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four palms).

Hanabi on the other hand only learned how to deal 28 punches so she made her own technique known as the Hakke Nijuhachi Sho (Eight Trigrams Twenty Eight Palms). Rock Lee, on the other hand was trying his best to try and learn Ninjutsu and Ten-Ten was trying to learn another way of fighting like using her scrolls to make a chakra dome that shoots out kunais.

Ino and Sakura finally stopped fighting over Sasuke coz they couldn't beat Katara. Ino even decided to teach Sakura flower techniques and one of her Genjutsu techniques: the Ninpou, Hyakkaryouran. (Ninja Art, Flower Piercing Illusion)

Kiba learned how to replicate himself into three and was able to make three Garoga tornados instead of two. Shino did a couple of bug researches and hunting for a hobby. Shikamaru decided to try something new instead of sleeping but he couldn't get out of his habit.

Chouji, he's still as fat as ever. He still eats but tries to cook and Ino and Sakura reluctantly try to help him. Gai, Rock Lee's idol got some time to train with other strong jounins to achieve his number one goal: Beat Kakashi.

Asuma also decided to slack a bit and he some times spends some time with Kurenai.

What about Sasuke you ask? Well, you're about to know.

Sasuke was alone on one of the buildings. Sasuke already had leveled up to Chuunin after the mission but he still seemed miserable. A voice asked: "What are you doing up here?"

Sasuke turned around and saw Katara with a bag. Sasuke asked: "You're leaving already?" Katara replied: "No. I have to go to another team. Even though Kakashi tried to tell Tsunade." Sasuke sighed and said: "I wish you could stay. Who are you going with?"

Katara replied: "Some other kids. One is Kazuya Hokama and the other guy is Aburame Shotai." Then, when she was about to leave. Sasuke said: "Wait." Katara looked back and asked: "Yeah, what's the matter?"

Sasuke asked: "Do you have any plans tonight?" Katara replied: "Nope and I got no mission either." Sasuke said: "Oh I see. I was wondering…" Katara asked: "What?" Sasuke replied: "If you wanted go out with me tonight."

Katara looked at him wildly and said: "Like a date?" Sasuke nodded and said: "Yeah." Katara thought about it for awhile and said: "Yeah, sure." When she began to walk away, Sasuke suddenly grabbed her hand.

Katara turned around and asked: "What was that f---?" Before she could say another word, Sasuke and Katara's lips came in contact. It was short yet passionate kiss. When they let go, Katara and Sasuke were blushing in front of each other. It seemed like the words were taken out of their mouth. Then, they stared at the sun that was far into the horizon.

cloudstife22793: The End! Now please don't forget the reviews!


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